Hello again, everyone. After our Heroes were finally given all the information they needed to conduct a full-on investigation into Pietro and his plans for his army behind the scenes of Gagaringrad, the unthinkable has happened, and the Kapenta Hero Agency is under attack. What will they be able to do in order to escape, now that the wheels for the climax of the Hokkaido Arc have finally started to turn?
Writing this chapter was incredibly exciting, since I love getting to really work my muscles and planning processes when it comes to writing battles with the Quirks we know and the original ones I come up with. If you like what you read here today, please be kind and leave an honest review letting me know what you think of my battle-writing skills so far. I'm always striving to improve, and feedback would be instrumental for that.
Another grateful shout-out to my two beta readers and consultants, Mizu and Jonny for their continuous support; as well as those of artists Syyndev on Fiverr and Akane Kahomi on DA. Their work is awesome, and if anyone out there would like to contribute any kind of fanart for this story, feel free to personally message me to let me know.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them and the alterations of established events that occur because of them.
A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.
Chapter 74
Agency Siege
(Осада Агентства)
Pietro's Headquarters, Friday, September 12th
Maja's entire chest felt as though it were on fire alongside her scalp by the time she'd finally reached the top floor of the hospital/headquarters, after the dome-headed Ocean Master had all but thrown her out of the basement to get the boy she knew to be their leader Pietro's son, Misha, down to Alyosha's lab; all for the sake of the boy's father himself.
It took all her restraint not to just kick down the door she knew to be to the boy's bleakly sparse room, startling the once-sleeping child, barely above the age of a toddler, out of a once peaceful sleep, only for his momentarily confused expression to turn into one of complete confusion and fear when he saw the girl rapidly approaching him.
[[Misha, you need to come down to Comrade Alyosha's lab with me, okay? Your daddy needs your help, now more than ever!]] This was all she could bring herself to tell the child as she scooped him up into her arms and practically flew down the stairs, trying to block out the boy's piercing cries of confusion. Right now, all she could think to herself was how much she was hoping this boy and Alyosha's scientific know-how would be able to bring Pietro and their dear comrade Ljubomir back.
Although, after the horrifying state she'd seen their leader in, in literally more than one piece, even her faith in their doctor and technical wizard's capabilities was shaken to its foundation. If neither of them were able to do it, then their entire mission and campaign was doomed.
[[WHERE AM I?! I'M SCARED! I WANNA GO HOME! WHERE'RE MY MOMMY AND DADDY?!]] Over and over again, Misha was constantly screaming these questions at the top of his lungs, all while trying to squirm and fight his way out of the teenage Polish girl's grip as she finally reached the door to the second floor where Alyosha's lab was at the end of the hall.
[[What're you talking about, Misha?! Pietro Dobrynich, your daddy, is the one that needs your help; the help of your Quirk; I just told you this!]] Maja tried to explain as calmly as she possibly could, but none of it seemed to get through to the kid. If anything, this only made the little boy fight even harder, just as she finally shoulder-charged her way through the door into the lab.
She had to immediately stifle the urge to vomit when she saw the grotesque image of the blown apart Pietro splayed out on several operating tables, with numerous intricate machines of Alyosha's own design slowly and meticulously wiring and attaching all the pieces that were remotely salvageable back together. And as for Misha, the instant he made the mistake of looking to see such a nightmarish display, with the grim and waiting Alyosha and Ocean Master standing at the sides and watching, he immediately began wailing and shrieking and fighting even harder.
[[THAT'S NOT DADDY! THAT'S NOT MY DADDY! I WANT MY MOMMY AND DADDY! PLEASE, I WANNA GO HOME!]]
As these words of complete and honest denial echoed through the lab, drawing all eyes to the small boy, Ocean Master finally stepped forward like a man possessed, all but forcing the small boy out of Maja's grasp and carrying him to the operating table. [[Now, now, Misha, I know it's scary, but your daddy is too important for us to not try and bring back, and you are the only one who can do it, so—[[MY NAME'S NOT MISHA, IT'S VALERA! VALERA! MOMMY! DADDY! HELP ME!]]
The instant Alyosha joined Ocean Master's side; he all but held the boy calling himself Valera down to the operating table, and forcing his hands onto Pietro's torso; the small child sobbing in total hysterics once he could feel the blood on his palms; all while the scientist/doctor hissed through his teeth: [[We don't have time for this, you little brat! Use your Quirk to bring our people back, or so help me God, you'll regret it!]]
Maja had never heard the normally composed scientist of theirs speak with such venom, and especially to such a young child. However, it ultimately did the trick, as soon that same warm golden glow began to emanate from the crying child's hands, soon encapsulating the entirety of Pietro's body as Alyosha's machines continued to put him back together; at a visibly accelerated pace in fact, as though sensing the gradual return of Pietro's vital functions, and thus being able to heal his countless wounds that much quicker.
[[It's working…my God, it's actually working! His vitals are coming back and stabilizing! It's still going to take a bit of time for the machines to finish the surgical work, but I'm confident Pietro Dobrynich's consciousness will return once everything's said and done. Now come, my boy, we need you to use your Quirk for Comrade Ljubomir, too.]] Alyosha quickly sounded absolutely over the moon as he explained all this once the golden glow had dissipated; wasting no time in carrying the already exhausted and sobbing Valera to Ljubomir's comparatively less grotesque body, with Ocean Master anxiously following after him as well…but Maja stayed behind.
Rather than relief, all she could feel was this ever-growing feeling of complete and total confusion. She knew for a fact that boy was named Misha, not Valera, and Pietro was his father; she'd known that about them for years, they'd all come here to Gagaringrad together for crying out loud. Why would this boy suddenly start contradicting that? Especially since Maja knew how to easily read children by the way they acted and spoke, and there wasn't a single trace of falsehood she could pick up on in how the boy was speaking and acting. He believed everything he was saying without a shred of doubt. There was no way a kid this young could be that good of a liar; that was the kind of convincing that could fool entire nations if so.
But then, the more she thought of the inconsistencies of this, the more her brain was finally managing to catch up with the rest of her and bring up the question that had been planted, but she'd forced herself to ignore in the chaos of the moment: namely, why the hell were there clearly people calling for help being held in cells in the basement? Given the fact they'd taken the crew of the Navy boat from the previous day hostage, the existence of such a place ultimately made sense, but she could distinctly recall hearing female voices down there as well, and she knew there hadn't been any female officers on that boat.
And from there, the biggest question came, from the little she'd been able to clearly make out with all the smoke that had filled that hall: why on Earth was the Linguist, Leonid Viktorovich Briner, being held down there as well, after he'd disappeared from public to deal with his sickness? Had that story actually been true at all? And if not, had Pietro and Ocean Master actually been holding him down there for all that time? If so, once again, why? Why would Ocean Master have all her comrades chase him down like some kind of wild animal?
None of these questions made any sense, and the fact she had no reasonable answers for any of them made it all so much worse. All Maja knew right now was that she couldn't stay in this lab, she needed to try and get somewhere she could be alone and clear her head, if that were even possible.
As she made her way down the halls and floors, she found everything she once thought to be so perfectly crystal clear to now be as muddy and impenetrable as a fog in the middle of open ocean…and yet, from out of that fog also came a steadily growing number of pinholes through the void, as though providing a number of peeks into something that felt so familiar, so real, and yet so far away.
'What's happening to me? Nothing makes any sense anymore! Commander Pietro…why is this happening? Somebody…Mama…Papa…please help me! No, they're long gone, they died…didn't they? Pietro told me they did, I saw it happen…right? They're dead…ever since I was little…but why do I remember them so clearly now? I remember them…here! Yes, they were here, in Gagaringrad! I…I remember them…and our house! Where are they? I haven't seen them in months! Where are they?!'
As Maja's mind began to steadily clear itself up again, she found more that what she had believed to be the honest truth because of Pietro was falling apart like a masterfully crafted painting doused in paint thinner. And with the ever-increasing realization of the very presence of her parents at a far later time than she had once believed, she found her racing and frantic mind directing her to go back into those basement cells, if for no other reason than to just be sure she was merely hearing things. Surely, Pietro hadn't lied to her, and her confusion was making her panic in the wake of his death that much worse. Surely that had to be it.
As she cautiously made her way down the stairs to the basement, with everyone's panic causing them to forget to close and lock the door; Maja's doubts and confusion similarly began to drift elsewhere: 'Why is everything so muddled now? Why does everything feel so…different from before? It's like I recognize this whole building…but not for what I thought it was all these months. In fact…why did I come here at all? Why are any of us here? He told us he was going to train us to use our Quirks as new Heroes for the town…didn't he? Then…why…why was he training us like soldiers and…oh God…making us go out and do all that dangerous shit, and hurting…oh, God, and killing all those people?!'
The moment Maja's mind finally forced her to this dreadful realization, she had at last reached the bottom of the stairs, and even with her mind screaming with all these contradicting and long-buried memories, she could similarly hear the rising cacophony of all these different muffled adult voices from within the cell doors, as though the people inside could just feel the sudden presence of someone on the outside.
With every step she took down that hall, it was as though her real memories were coming back, layered on top of the memories of what she now knew for a fact had been happening for the last several months to fill in the gaps of her unaffected perception, and the realization of all the things she and they had all done under Pietro's command left her heart wrought with horrified guilt; already crying by the time she'd reached the end of the hall. Every last bit of those last several months that Pietro had been training and looking out for all of them had been under one colossal lie, and for all she knew, she was the only person to realize it.
Of course, with that enlightenment came the only natural question to follow: why was it that she was the only one among them to come to this point mentally? Was this happening to all the rest of her comrades while they were still out there potentially hunting Leonid down?
She had no idea of knowing, but one thing she did know she could do was to at least confirm her worst suspicions about this room specifically. Thankfully, some of the doors had the little slots that she could open to look inside of, then she would know for certain. Thus, she finally approached the door at the far end of the hall to her immediate left.
What she immediately saw was all of the sailors from the Navy boat all chained up to the walls and each other, and the moment they all saw her eyes watching them through the opening, their gazes all wielded immense hatred, in sharp contrast to the desperation with which they all started speaking to her: [[WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING THIS TO US?! PLEASE, JUST LET US OUT! WE SWEAR, WE WON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT ANY OF YOU OR THIS PLACE! WE'RE BEGGING YOU, PLEASE!]]
Maja immediately reeled back from the door, barely managing to shut the slot closed in her shock in the process, before her back collided with the door opposite it. Looking back to it, despite her better senses telling her to get out of here; she couldn't resist the grim curiosity and need to know for certain that was still twisting in her gut.
When she opened the slot to this particular door and looked inside, her vision almost instantly became clouded with tears as she sucked in a horrified gasp at the sight of a middle-aged man and woman, the latter of whom had much longer but similarly waxy-textured hair like she did; both of them in visibly half-melted states, as was made evident by the wave of heat that had started to emanate out their cell when she had opened the slot. Someone had set up a large heat lamp rig on the ceiling of the cell, keeping the two occupants immobilized and unable to try and escape.
But that didn't stop them from speaking when their eyes instinctively drifted to the now open slot to their cell door, and immediately recognized the pink-colored eyes looking in on them that reflected complete devastation. [[Maja…? Baby…?]]
[[Mama…Papa…? But…but how? I…I-I thought I saw you both die back in Poland!]] the words were barely able to make it out of the Polish girl's throat at the sight of both her parents in such a miserable state; and with that came the understanding that, if her returning and increasingly clear memories were correct, then they had been kept in this horrible condition for the last several months, right under her nose without her ever even realizing it.
[[What? No…no, Maja, that man…Pietro Dobrynich…what has he been telling you? What did he do to you? He told us to come and see your training when he first recruited you, and then the next thing we knew, we were being held here and not being told anything about you!]] As Maja's father explained all of this, the poor girl felt like she was going to completely lose her mind with the weight of all her returning fears and suspicions continuously being proven true.
[[Maja…that man…his goons…they haven't hurt you, have they?]] Maja's mother asked weakly as she tried to crawl her way to the door even despite the heat, with her husband crawling right in tandem alongside her, only for them both to collapse halfway through; their limbs unable to solidify enough to support their weight. Finally, looking up her way, her father pleaded: [[Maja…please…don't worry about us. Just…get yourself out of here…away from these people…while you still can. Go!]]
To her continuously increasing guilt, Maja ultimately closed the slot on her parents, heaving and trembling at the realization of the worst truth that could have come out of this whole deception. Her parents were being held prisoner and tortured by the man she had come to believe had been her only parental figure for pretty much her entire life.
Now, what had once been admiration and loyalty had turned into pure disgust and hatred as her eyes began to turn to see the other cell doors. If her parents were being held here, then she no longer had any doubt that the same went for the parents of the rest of her fellow recruits…except for Eliška, Hristofor and Ljubomir; now remembering that they had specifically come right along into Gagaringrad with Pietro all those months ago, while she had been living here virtually her entire life.
Over a stretch of time she never stopped to notice, with every door she was able to peek into, her suspicions were continuously proven right. Inside every one, similarly hopelessly restrained, were three older adult men in what looked like some kind of special ops uniforms she personally didn't recognize, along with the adults she remembered for a fact to be the parents of some of the other recent army recruits like Danila (whom once more proved everything she'd thought she'd known to be false when rebuffing her belief of their abandoning their son years ago), Gazsi, Jozef, and finally, the young adults she remembered clearly to be Valera's parents.
Every single one of them too recognized her, and every single one only ever ended up asking the same things of her: to get their children away from this place and put a stop to whatever madness Pietro and his lackeys were planning for them.
She had no idea how, but by the time she had finally reached the entrance end of the hall after looking into the cells and hearing their pleas to free their children, she knew that she would die before she would let this all go unpunished. Even if Pietro had died already twice, she was feeling herself become more and more tempted by the idea of going up into that lab and doing it all over again, and this time making sure there would be no way for him to come back. Even if she were to die in the process, if it could mean she would help break his similar brainwashing hold on the others, then no price would be too high for her alone to pay.
The realization that all the memories of what she thought were an entire lifetime had only been a fabrication of merely a few months still had her head spinning, but her heart finally felt like it had found a real direction to go down, no matter how much she still found the idea of taking someone's life to be far more than distasteful, no matter the person or the circumstances.
However, that was when a miraculous thought came that stopped her from rushing up and most likely throwing her entire life and those of all the parents away: Leonid. If he had been kept prisoner down here and was making a run for it, then that had to mean he knew what she now knew to be a fact here as well. It was the only explanation that made his being here make any sense.
And if he was running, then that had to mean he was going for help. He was not the kind of man who would abandon all the people of Gagaringrad to be potentially taken over by that madman; he would do the one thing that would actually help: go for the nearest Hero Agency and tell them what's happening. And with that realization, the idea began to sound much more successful to herself as well. Hell, the rest of her memory-altered comrades were still out there while Ocean Master and Alyosha were preoccupied with resurrecting Pietro and Ljubomir. As much as she despised the idea of slipping away without Valera or all the parents in tow, she had no doubt that if she could similarly make it to the Kapenta Heroes and tell them everything that'd been going on, it could backup Leonid's story (assuming he'd hopefully managed to successfully escape) just enough to convince them to come here and put a stop to everything, maybe even bring in tons of backup so Pietro and his soldiers couldn't have a chance to mount up an effective counterattack.
With this idea now burning through her veins, Maja's heart was filled with the most righteous conviction she'd ever felt as she bolted up the stairs for the lobby, all but ready to sprint the entire way from here to Arakisu City and the Kapenta Agency. Right now, she and Leonid were the people's only hope. Pietro had deceived her with all his lies about training her to become a Hero, but now she was finally being given a chance to actually be the Hero Gagaringrad needed most.
Unfortunately, the moment she burst out the basement doorway into the lobby, she was immediately greeted by the sound of Eliška's voice, accompanied by multiple footsteps entering the lobby behind her: [[Hello, Knot. You know you're not supposed to be down there.]]
Maja cautiously looked to the entrance to find the red-and-gold-haired Czech woman, accompanied of course by Hristofor, Danila, Marius, Jozef and Gazsi; all looking especially roughed up, like they'd been trekking through the deep woods for hours, only for her to then realize that the sun had risen in the time she'd spent in the basement cells; and now they were all eyeing her with intense distrust. Of course, Maja herself had no doubt she was reflecting the very same look at them in return.
[[Where exactly do you think you're going? Until Commander Pietro is back on his feet, we need to all stick together as a unit.]] Eliška finally asked once again when she realized the particularly aggressive stance the Polish girl before her was starting to take; her pink eyes clearly measuring up the room to try and figure her chances if this got especially ugly.
Maja knew the moment she tried to make a sudden move for the door, any one of them was bound to act, assuming the others besides the Czech young woman and Bulgarian young man before her were still under the affect of Pietro's Quirk. Judging from some of the faint glimmers of confusion on their faces, she could only take that as a remotely good sign that if they saw what was happening here, they would act in her favor.
Until she knew for sure, however, she needed to act as though she were entirely on her own, and thus began to focus her Quirk within her hands, never taking her eyes off Eliška at the forefront. [[Just let me pass, Petto. I don't want to have to fight you.]]
The sharper-eyed woman showed no visible sign of preparing her own Quirk, but Maja knew her fighting style well enough to know she undoubtedly had a few strands of her controlling hair on standby in both her hands. She already knew the Polish girl had shaken their leader's hold on herself. [[I know you don't, Knot. You never had the spine for such things. That's why I always told him you were more trouble than you were worth. Too spirited and willful for us.]]
[[Hey, what's going on here, Petto? Knot's our comrade, why're you both getting so aggressive?]] Marius suddenly asked, but still too intimidated by the aura the Czech and Bulgarian were both giving off, as the latter shot him down with a glance. [[Isn't it obvious, Blowback? Knot's gone and turned traitor on us. She probably thinks she can run and get word out to more people wanting to invade us and take us down, just like they did to our Commander.]]
As Hristofor explained this, everyone else's eyes returned to Maja, all of them visibly hurt. [[Knot…is that true?]]
The genuine hurt in Danila's voice was especially painful to hear, but Maja couldn't let that reflect on her face, not when she was still at a serious disadvantage. [[Nothing here is what you all have been told it is, you guys! Pietro's a liar, and so are Petto, Blackout, Ocean Master and Alyosha! If you need proof, just go downstairs and see for yourselves!]]
Maja knew she was pretty much signifying for a fight to start once she started rapidly spouting this whole explanation off to the rest of the recruits, and just as she'd been bracing herself for, Eliška was the first to act, immediately flicking her right wrist and sending several strands of her hair straight at Maja, who immediately countered by throwing both her hands up and across herself, throwing a quick-drying wall of wax as a shield for the strands to stab into.
The moment she'd done so, she immediately threw her right leg in a flying spinning kick, sending a thin sheet of wax in a flying arc, hoping to either put them all on the defensive or blind them just long enough for her to break into a mad sprint for freedom. The moment she had both feet on the ground again, she kicked herself off to her right, sliding on a trail of wax emanating from her feet for the door, only for half her field of vision to go completely black when Hristofor managed to get a fraction of a second-long glimpse of one of her eyes through the opening in his crossed arms shielding himself from her previous kick.
However, even if half her eyesight was gone, Maja wouldn't let that stop her, throwing an extending line of wax from the palm of her hand to the ceiling just above the door, hoping to use it as a tether to reel herself through the doors just that little bit farther so she could get to the outside. Once she could do that, then she'd be able to go wild with her Quirk in a desperate effort to escape and get to the Kapenta Agency.
THPT!
The moment she suddenly felt the slightest pricking sensation in her right side, Maja felt all of her momentum come to an immediate stop, and the line of wax to the ceiling from her palm immediately liquidate, forcing her back onto her feet, unable to move no matter how much her mind wanted her to. In her desperation to escape, she'd neglected the simplest measure of building up a defensive wax shielding over her exposed backside to ward off Eliška's standby hair strands, and now her escape had been cut off just as quickly as it had started; the invisible pulling sensation of strings at all her joints forcing her to walk backwards to rejoin the group.
As she was forced back, she could see her fellow local recruits' faces all shared similar mixtures of confusion, regret and genuine hurt at her apparent betrayal, before she was finally forced to turn and look into the Czech woman's relieved smiling face. [[Don't hold this against me, Knot. Every soldier worth their salt needs a little adjustment in order to reach their perfect selves. Pietro can help us finally get you across that threshold. Then we can put this insubordination of yours behind us and get back to the way things are meant to be.]]
[[That's still assuming Alyosha and the kid were able to actually salvage him. In that state, I'm afraid to say it, but—[[Then don't!]] Hristofor was clearly trying to be realistic, before Eliška viciously shut him up with a tone that could turn blood to ice, as nobody here dared argue. With that, she once more practically took the lead; her Quirk forcing Maja to march in tandem right alongside her all the way back to Alyosha's lab.
Once inside, there were three things the whole reunited group was immediately met with: the sight of the boy they all knew as Misha (but Maja now knew to be otherwise) lying unconscious on an empty gurney beside Ljubomir's operating table; the titular Serbian actually sitting up looking as good as he ever had been before, except that the purple of his eyes now looked particularly faded and devoid of that shimmer, and there was still some intense bruising discoloration all over his neck.
And finally, having by this point at last risen from his own operating table, there was Pietro Dobrynich Granin himself, only now his reattached body parts were all severely disfigured with laceration and burn scars alike, with his left eye having clearly lost one of its eyelids in the process of the explosion, alongside his graying black hair now being in messy patches atop his head, and his left arm now being completely made up of crude yet clearly efficient machinery. Numerous metallic stitches and mechanical amalgamations were now keeping his right arm, both legs, and his lower and upper torso all attached.
The man looked like a living nightmare, especially when the others could all see that his eyes had once again changed colors, this time being an inhuman cloudy white with barely visible irises to be seen…but despite all of this, even as he looked himself in the mirror of Ocean Master's dome, his demeanor and tone reflected only pure relief. [[You're truly a miracle worker, Alyosha Stepanovich. You've accomplished what I once would've thought impossible.]]
[[If you can come up with a way for my voice to sound normal again, then I'll be that much more inclined to agree.]] Ljubomir chimed in from his spot in the lab; his own voice now giving off a sickening raspy or gravelly texture, thanks to having had his neck broken so severely hours before.
SMASH!
With literally no warning or windup, Pietro suddenly smashed his metallic left hand against his own operating table and left a notable dent in it, startling everyone as he jumped back down onto his feet; the machinery for his legs keeping him from collapsing and potentially coming apart. As he turned to face all of his returned recruits, it was hard to tell if he was just ignoring the gasps of horror Maja could hear from several of the others, or if he was so blinded by whatever was suddenly going through his head that it didn't even register.
It didn't make any difference in the end; the result was still the same, and as horrible as could be: the man responsible for taking them all from their families and putting together this dread army was back, and she wasn't sure what to do to escape now that she was under Eliška's control.
Pietro didn't even bother acknowledging any of his recruits or pointing out the look of defiance and fear on Maja's face; instead beginning to anxiously and angrily pace around the lab; his voice continuously bouncing back and forth between frantic mutterings and loud exclamations intended for the others: [[Konstantin Alexandrovich Khodamchuk…not once…not twice…but three times now! Three times, that man has brought me close and even across the threshold of Death's door…and three times, by the merit of my own recognition of potential, I've managed to come right back! He can't kill me! He can't even kill my soldiers! With this boy, Alyosha's technological geniuses and all of our skills combined, we're unstoppable!
[[Now it's time for us to show him and every last one of those fools in Mother Russia what they can expect when they try to strike out against us, after they'd already destroyed our homes and our lives! It's time for us to fight fire with Hellfire; to where they'll never even be capable of hitting us like this again, let alone even consider it! They drove us away, calling us monsters! Now it's time for them to finally see the face of the very monster they themselves created!]]
With every word, Pietro's voice became more and more unhinged, as did the expressions that could even partially be made out through all his new scars, up to the point where once he finally reached the penultimate point of his rambling, he instinctively planted a fist through the nearest wall, once again causing several of the other recruits, and even Eliška and Hristofor, to jump back in surprise.
Where there had once been a completely reasonable and almost unshakably calm man, there had then been a much angrier but still strategically capable man of admittedly looser personal restraint. Now, there was no fragment left of the Pietro Dobrynich Granin that the youngsters could recognize. Now, there was this completely deranged, unstable and clearly openly violent twisted mockery of the man they once knew.
It was impossible to tell just who Pietro was focusing his eyes on with them now completely clouded over as they were. It was only by his speaking that anyone was able to actually react and know anything about his thinking anymore. [[Alyosha, bring the boy to me.]]
The scientist immediately did as he was told, practically carrying the semi-conscious Valera up onto the bloody operating table. The moment the boy could actually lift his head (allowing Maja and the others to see how deathly pale he'd now become, undoubtedly from having to use his Quirk on two fully grown people, and one being in such horrendous condition), he immediately began screaming in piercing terror, only for the deformed man to clutch onto both sides of his head tight; his arms trembling as though he were preparing to crush the child's skull like a vice, and forcing their eyes to meet.
It was incredible to Maja how the boy was actually able to somehow plead through his terrified tears, but that didn't help the overall situation any, as the boy merely begged: [[Please…I don't wanna be here anymore! I want my Mommy and Daddy! Please, Mister; please let us go!]]
THOOM!
Without even a second's hesitation, Pietro's fingertips all began to faze into Valera's brain, and lifting the boy up like some kind of human sacrifice, he turned to address both Valera himself, and every one of his Gagaringrad-bound troops before him; his already powerful voice now resonating to an inhuman frequency that penetrated every one of his intended target's brains with an ease he hadn't possessed before in his prime of actually training it.
[[You all are my soldiers, and mine alone! You have all only ever been born, raised and trained to follow my every command without question! I am your father, Valera; I am your leader, everyone; I am your God! I am all you have ever known from the beginning; your parents are nothing more to you than a means for you to have been born! I gave you all purpose, and you all have sworn to honor that purpose by dying for me if need be! Under me, you all shall exercise your Quirks and your training so that we may strike back and take back our Motherland from the tyrants that drove us all out! Do you all understand?!]]
[[YES, COMMANDER GRANIN! WE ARE YOURS TO COMMAND AND SACRIFICE AS NEEDED!]]
Pietro's burning hatred seemed to actually simmer down a touch as he was immediately answered with this resounding answer from every one of his recruits that he didn't already know to be completely dedicated to his cause…all, that is, except for Maja, who looked as though her brain was about to split apart; her face twisting with the agony of trying to fight back against his re-conditioning through his Quirk. [[What…is this? Knot?]]
Even through the painful tears running down her face, Maja was continuously trying to fight against both Eliška's physical control and Pietro's memory restructuring altogether. After letting out a howl of pure torture, she finally managed to shout in defiance: [[NO! MY NAME IS…MAJA KIESLOWSKA! NOT KNOT, NOT AGAIN! I WON'T…BE…YOUR…PUPPET OR SLAVE ANYMORE! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME FORGET AGAIN, YOU MONSTER! THE HEROES WILL LEARN EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE AND STOP YOU!]]
WRAM!
Maja didn't even see the vicious metallic palm Pietro immediately smacked her across her face with at the sound of such raw defiance. The degree to which it utterly stunned her was all he needed then to once more grab her by her entire head and faze his fingers into her brain; staring utter fire and daggers into her dazed eyes as he spoke with a frequency that resonated to her very core: [[You WILL be my soldier, just like you've always been, Knot! I am the only leader and parent you've ever needed, and all you ever will need! If I tell you to kill anyone, you'll do so without question, you promised me this on your damn life! If I tell you to sacrifice yourself for me, you'll do so with a smile on your face, this was your oath from the day we first met! The Heroes out there mean nothing to you! Not a single one of them! I and this army are the only family and friends you have and ever will want! You are forever sworn to obey my every command! DO YOU UNDERSTAND, KNOT; MY SOLDIER!?]]
Halfway through his latest rewriting of her memories, Maja's pink eyes rolled into the back of her head, and once he'd finished his work and gave Eliška an affirming nod, she released her own Quirk's hold on the girl, causing her to collapse like a pile of bricks to the floor, only to soon start picking herself back up onto her feet, looking considerably woozy the entire way, but as soon as she was standing up again and looked into Pietro's eyes, he felt a surge of pride when seeing the defiant fire in her gaze had been extinguished. [[What are your orders for me, Commander Granin?]]
Clapping his hands together in accomplishment, Pietro immediately turned to address the rest of his soldiers with that same manic energy: [[Before we discuss that…what precisely happened to you lot? You look like you've been roughing it in the woods. Tell me why, NOW.]]
Immediately, Hristofor answered: [[We're sorry, sir, but after your…tragic incident, the Linguist, Leonid Viktorovich Briner, made an escape from the cells. Comrade Ocean Master had us chase after him, but the old codger is far craftier than we gave him credit for.]]
When the rest of the soldiers' eyes turned to Jozef, he looked like a terrified puppy about to receive the scolding and thrashing of a lifetime. [[I'm sorry, sir. I got the drop on him just outside Arakisu City, but he…he hit me with some kind of trick with his Quirk, made it so I couldn't even speak one language from one word to the next. He gave me the slip after that, and we didn't want to risk drawing the attention of the Heroes there by grabbing him in broad daylight. Please, punish me as you see fit, sir!]]
The put-upon Slovakian boy immediately got on his knees and bowed his head, exposing the back of his neck as though in preparation for a beheading, with Gazsi, Marius and Danila soon following suit. All the while, Pietro stared down upon the four boys with his hands clenching into trembling fists; his eyes more than once flicking toward one of the bloody scalpels on the nearby surgical tray.
In the end, though, he let out a shaky, fuming sigh; once more pacing around the lab. [[This is unfortunate. By now, Leonid has no doubt gone to the Kapenta Agency Heroes and told them everything. I anticipated a situation like this happening at some point, but not this soon. Those people aren't fools, either; they'll undoubtedly try to reach out to every other Hero Agency in Hokkaido, if not all across Japan as a whole, to come here and apprehend us if we don't act quick!]]
SMASH!
With a feral scream, he suddenly grabbed the tray full of razor sharp surgical items and threw it across the whole lab, forcing Maja and Hristofor to dodge out of the way, just as Pietro similarly flipped his operating table over, with Ocean Master barely managing to grab the weak Valera off just in time.
As Pietro towered over everyone around him; his shoulders hunched over and his eyes and fingers twitching with madness; a light of an idea suddenly went off in his head. [[We need to just act to make sure they can't contact reinforcements at all. We need to launch a multi-pronged attack strategy at every major means the Heroes have to reach out to their fellows, and for said backup to even get here in time. We do that, and eliminate our only enemies that actually know of what we're doing here…and then the final stage of the campaign's preparation can at last begin! By the time the rest of Japan figures out what's happened, we and our grand army will be long gone, and vengeance will finally be ours to take!]]
From there, Pietro stopped and turned on his heels, instinctively pointing to each of his soldiers as he called their names; every single one immediately standing tall and giving a resounding salute in response, starting with Tuule, Jozef, Gazsi and Marius respectively: [[Gust, I want you to take Spitfire, Backtrack and Blowback with you to Asahikawa City. By now we all know full well how the Hero infrastructure in Japan is set up, primarily that each island has a central tower to connect them to the country's whole Hero Network. Take a small supply of the explosives and weapons you took from the Ural naval installation, and take down that tower. That way, the Kapenta Heroes won't be able to instantly contact their fellows on this island or the others.]]
From there, he then turned his attention to Danila and Ljubomir, who had by now returned to join the side of his fellow soldiers; with none of them showing even the slightest perturbed glances that he was literally back from the dead just like their leader. [[Once you've delivered them to Asahikawa, I want you to then come back here and warp Scythe and Grenadier to Sapporo. If you can blow the undersea train tunnel connecting Hokkaido to Honshu, that will make it even more difficult for any Heroes on the outside to come here to try and interfere. Ocean Master will be on standby undersea to extract you both once your objective is complete, don't worry.]]
While the rest of the soldiers he'd previously addressed all gave resounding salutes and confirmations that they understood their objectives, it was Ocean Master who suddenly spoke up: [[I'm sorry to cut in, Pietro Dobrynich…but those two objectives; wouldn't they carry the inherent risk of extensive collateral damage for the Japanese citizens in those areas? Wouldn't we be risking serious Japanese Hero and military retribution in that case?]]
For a mere moment, the dome-headed man could swear he saw a glimmer of murderous anger ignite in the eye with no lid on Pietro's face. He had never been the recipient of such a look in all the years they had known each other. That realization, that simply asking one question would make the man react this way, genuinely left Ocean Master feeling truly shaken.
And yet, just as quickly, Pietro's face formed a grotesque smile thanks to all his scars. [[That's precisely why I said we'll be long gone by the time the Heroes that are left have managed to get their shit together. You see, it's time for us to finally amass an army worthy of our cause; one with which we can finally deliver our retribution onto Russia after what they'd done to us for merely existing.]]
Pietro's tone made it clear that there was no room for interpretation in this. He was gunning for pure blood at this point, and Ocean Master didn't know how to respond to that, no matter how much he wanted to, for all their sakes.
At the same time, however, Alyosha was practically giddy with eagerness as he began directing Pietro to a nearby vertical rack with what looked like a brand new version of the once-damaged armor rig the woman among Konstantin Khodamchuk's team had been wearing that had saved her life before.
[[Since we're speaking of finally preparing for the return trip, sir, I think it's a perfect time to let you know I've finally managed to fully recreate the rig. With this and all the ones we took from the prisoner team, there's just about enough for a small team among us here; and after looking over the schematics and this little round of practice, I can easily start making more of them for the rest of us and those to join our ranks in the near future. The chemistry lab equipment setup has also been increasing the production of our Quirk-Explosion compound and the adjoining bullets exponentially, as well.]]
Running his one remaining flesh and blood hand against the rig, Pietro's smile was that of a purely animalistic kind of satisfaction. [[Fantastic work, Alyosha Stepanovich, I knew you could manage it. This retribution on Russia has been a very long time coming, my comrades. We have everything we need at our fingertips to make this campaign to regain our home one that will forever be etched into the annals of history, written with the very blood of those that sought our extinction.]]
[[There's actually a problem with that kind of long-term plan, sir.]] The sound of the dutiful Maja's voice suddenly interjecting like this almost had Pietro instinctively backhand her again, but his curiosity as to what she really meant actually brought him to stay his hand; only looking back to see this wasn't her trying to be defiant. She still looked as under control as ever, which made him especially anxious to know what she was talking about.
Upon being given permission to continue, Maja went on loud and clear: [[Well, sir, a couple days ago when investigating in town, I came across the dog that your son, Valera, resurrected. The only problem was that he was dead again, but not by any kind of outside element. The orphanage and schoolteacher said that he'd simply died, as though the fire of life that Valera gave him had ultimately flickered out. What's especially worrying was that it was a relatively young dog, as well, and yet this still happened.
[[It's led me to believe that his Quirk's effects are not, in fact, permanent, but only temporary. I regret to say that after the condition from which you were brought back, and considering Grenadier has now been brought back with Valera's Quirk as well; your life span, specifically, may only last a couple days at most, assuming they are at risk of getting shorter with each subsequent resurrection, sir. Even if they aren't, your time alive is still ultimately far more limited than we'd originally been led to believe.]]
The whole attitude across the lab changed, as all of the other soldiers looked downright distraught at the idea of their leader and comrade both only running on completely borrowed time. However, after a few moments of contemplative silence, watching Ocean Master with Valera lying semi-conscious in his arms; Pietro was once again smiling. [[You're worrying for nothing, Knot. Valera is our ace in the hole, just like I always knew he would be. If his Quirk is already as powerful as it is when he's so young and inexperienced with it, we simply need to help train him to become stronger; his Quirk will naturally strengthen right alongside him like it has for the rest of us, and then we'll be truly invincible.]]
COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!
Without even missing a beat from the end of Pietro's grand declaration; Valera suddenly started to cough and hack to an especially worrying degree in Ocean Master's arms. It only lasted for a few seconds, but by the time it was over, the little boy had lost consciousness, and upon looking, everyone instantly spotted the sharp contrast of a single line of blood running down Valera's pale cheek from the corner of his mouth.
Alyosha looked upon the sight for a few moments; his mind already racing as he put the facts he had to work with together. [[It would appear Valera's Quirk itself may be too strong for the user's body to handle regularly. To be able to restore life to one that is well and truly dead is hardly a simple feat, Pietro Dobrynich. I think it's safe to say that the more the boy uses his Quirk, the greater the overall physical toll it takes on him. I regret to tell you that your so-called ace in the hole may not be something you can consistently rely on for the duration of the campaign into Mother Russia.]]
Now the mood in the lab had gone completely frigid among all of Pietro's allies. Looking down upon Valera as Ocean Master cleaned the blood from his face; Pietro's teeth began to grind together; his whole body increasingly twitching with that savage anger he was barely managing to keep from exercising on the child before him, now that he knew it wasn't the key to success he'd thought it was.
It was only the firing of a certain synapse in his brain that got Pietro to stay his hand, as another idea suddenly occurred to him. [[We may just have the solution to that problem before us. The third prong of our attack to eliminate our Hero problem! While Team 1 takes down the Hero Network tower in Asahikawa, and Team 2 floods the rail tunnel in Sapporo; Team 3, which will consist of Knot, Blackout, and Petto; will lay an assault on the Kapenta Hero Agency itself.
[[However, I want you all to make sure you bring one of them back here to me alive: that new sidekick of De-Condenser's; The Giver; that girl with the Quirk-enhancing Quirk! If you can all get her here to me, I can pull her into our ranks, and she can then use her ability to strengthen Valera's Quirk, on top of all our own, and we will then be a completely unstoppable force of true People's Justice!]]
Finally, he could feel the satisfaction of knowing all his followers fully understood just what it was he was asking of them. Now they could finally mobilize and get every single one of the balls rolling. However, that was when Hristofor suddenly cleared his throat, raising an objecting hand: [[Forgive me, sir, but for my team's assault mission, specifically, don't you think we might be getting sent in more than a little undermanned? I mean, we all know what the Kapenta Heroes' Quirks are, including those two interns of theirs. Fighting all of them with just the three of us would never actually work.]]
However, even for as sensible as Hristofor's concerns were, it didn't even register to Pietro, who simply folded his hands together, smiling with all the confidence his deformed face could convey. [[Oh, don't worry about that, Blackout. We've already got all the resources we need to make sure you'll all be good and looked out for.]]
Right now, there wasn't anything that could bring Pietro's spirits down. He felt well and truly on top of every possible contingency the success of his campaign could go through, and this carefully timed multi-pronged assault mission across Hokkaido would be the ultimate catalyst for his long-awaited exodus of revenge to begin upon. And with the relatively recent discovery of the distance property of his own Quirk, he already knew exactly how to utilize the time he would spend waiting for the others to fulfill their own missions for him.
Kapenta Hero Agency, Arakisu City, Present
In the immediate aftermath of Chiaroscuro's office getting blown to smithereens; she, the rest of the Kapenta Pro Heroes, their three Yuuei interns and Leonid Viktorovich Briner still found themselves huddled together in the elevator, still momentarily standing still while riding out the rumblings of a number of other muffled explosions all over their building.
The rest of the Pros looked just as grimly determined to fight to end this situation as she did, and while the interns were all clearly still trying to ride out their instinctive fear in the wake of the initial explosion, it was still just as clear that they were very intimidated. Honestly, how could they not be?
All the while, Leonid looked particularly shaken, now having his worst fears realized that even from afar, Pietro was finally striking back; and deep in his gut, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was specifically himself the man was gunning for.
However, no matter how scared they all were; Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka all knew they couldn't just stay in here and hope that they'd already gotten through the worst of it; and the Russian boy could just feel it as he finally broke the silence, in light of Chiaroscuro announcing they were officially under attack: "If all that other rumbling was all the other windows getting blown up, then this just got even worse. Whoever's attacking us, I think they're trying to keep us from knowing just where they might try to come in from; or worse, maybe try to get us to scatter."
The moment he suggested this, Kyouka's already frightened face darkened with similar realization. "If we do that, they can easily just pick us off one by one. We have no idea just how many attackers we could be dealing with."
Mina couldn't take not knowing even that much now that they were in this situation, and so even as she continued to shake and stifle her scared tears, she turned her attention to Leonid in the corner: "Leonid-ojiisan, you just said that Pietro-ojiisan is the danger threatening that town. Is he the one that did this to you? Are you seriously saying he's the one attacking us right now?!"
Leonid was still clutching onto the sleeves of his shirt for dear life as he barely glanced their way. "Not personally, but I have no doubt in my mind he's orchestrating it, having his soldiers come here to do the dirty work...but after the condition I'd seen him in last before I ran, I can't see how that's possible...unless his people actually have-"
However, their current circumstances spurred De-Condenser into instantly answering with particular intensity: "Whether it's him or his soldiers out there doing this or not, we can't afford to idle our time away throwing theories and assumptions around. We need to focus on pacifying the situation and capturing our attackers before any civilians risk getting hurt. The ambulance call earlier and the explosions are bound to bring first responders flocking here in a matter of minutes. We need to contain this situation before they get here and risk getting caught in the crossfire."
Leonid bowed his head, knowing the man was right. "If my suspicion from nearly getting shot outside the hospital is anything to go by, it might just be the very same sniper from before who's out there punching all the holes into the building right now. I don't know where they could've come from, but somehow Pietro's gotten total strangers lured onto his side recently. For all I know, Pietro might have even Rewrote the rest of those military-looking people in that basement to now fight for him, all for the sake of taking me out...if not all of you, as well now."
This idea, on top of the countless questions forming in their heads after listening to these scattered context-less details Leonid was describing, left the Heroes all feeling uneasy; Mina and Kyouka could quickly see this especially in Nikolay's eyes. "If that's all true, if you didn't recognize them, and they really are military people like you suggest…then that has to mean they weren't Gagaringrad locals. Could you tell if they were Japanese or anything else?"
Leonid gave a solemn shake of his head before answering: "When Pietro was holding me in that basement...I could hear their voices before everything went crazy and they attacked him. They were Russian, no question about it."
Now the fear on Nikolay's face became considerably darker, leaving his two watchful classmates especially unsettled at whatever he was thinking of. Finally he said: "If that's the case, and they were attacking him...it could actually be possible they were sent by Russia itself…and by now, I think we all know enough how they feel about people like us, to assume these people don't have Quirks like the rest of us. I just don't understand how it's possible Russia would know about Pietro's existence all the way out here, or why they would actually send such people onto Japanese soil to get rid of him."
Once Nikolay expressed this confusion of his, Leonid immediately answered with an unmistakable sincerity that sent a chill up everyone's spines: "I don't know the details...but if what Pietro told me back there is to be believed...I fear he may have been training all those kids to be child soldiers...and whatever it is he's been doing over all that time, it's gotten Russia directly involved in the process, and those military people may indeed have been their form of retaliation. I wish I knew more so I could tell you all for certain."
Once more, the implications of Leonid's words had all the Heroes visibly shocked, especially if by some miracle it all turned out to be true. Despite this, Nikolay's unease was offset by his fists instinctively clenching and trembling with the tension as he finally turned to address his fellow Heroes: "Regardless; assuming it is Pietro organizing this attack, and from there, even if Leonid-san's theory is correct, and Pietro has used his Quirk, whatever it is, to get those military people to fight for him and attack us; it doesn't change the fact that they're still technically foreign nationals sent here on their government's orders." The further Nikolay explained this train of thought he was going down, he could see his two classmates just managing to somewhat follow where he was going.
However, when Chiaroscuro herself visibly jolted with understanding, the mood in the entire elevator instantly dropped with her own conclusion: "If we aren't extremely careful in how we neutralize these potential assailants, and if we aren't able to explain whatever happens to the right people when the time comes, it could spark the worst kind of international incident."
A potential declaration of war. That was what she was ultimately suggesting, and every single person there could just feel their stomachs tighten into complete knots; the students all feeling the frigid touch of sheer terror creep across their skin at the thought. Nikolay especially felt as though he were already breaking out into a frigid sweat, overwhelmed with worry of that kind of possibility, and what would happen to all of his friends if it did. If they didn't handle this situation right, it was next to inevitable; knowing without a doubt by now how Russia's government thought and acted towards those with Quirks still.
"I can't believe this is actually happening. To think Pietro would actually be willing to throw all subtlety aside and come after me like this." Leonid muttered in a state of shock to himself.
None of the Heroes could blame him for feeling this way; still trying to completely prepare themselves and accept that a full-blown assault on their position was actually happening, and that someone they once trusted was potentially the one responsible. Nikolay and his friends could still feel their hearts pounding with fear all the same. After having seen all the Quirks of Pietro's soldiers firsthand (or at least having heard of it through word-of-mouth in Kyouka's case); to now even think they were going to have to give their all to fight for their lives against those very same people had them all still shaking, no matter how much they were all trying to calm themselves and each other throughout.
However, even as nervous as they similarly were, none of the Pro Heroes looked like they were about to give an inch to whoever was really attacking them, as High Noon knelt down to look the interns and the older man in the eye. "I know this is all really scary; only a fool would say otherwise. But we're all Heroes here, and we're going to make sure we do everything in our power to keep whoever these people really are, from getting to you or anyone else, Linguist-san. That's our promise to you."
As he and the three interns looked the Pros in the eye, Blast Beat looked similarly determined, if not even a touch inspired. "Damn right. Besides, I'm especially burning for some answers now, after what you've been suggesting is going on, however vague it may be. If we can neutralize these guys quick once they make their move, maybe we can finally start shedding some light on things around here."
Kyouka's mentor sounded downright driven; as she, her fellow interns, De-Condenser and The Giver all looked completely on-board with it as well. It was honestly the biggest source of inspiration they had right now, and they were all finally feeling ready to go for it. Chiaroscuro even gave her fellow Hero an agreeing nod; even if her eyes were still narrowed and steely with focus. "Good, we have some kind of idea what to shoot for, now and later on. However, we still need to survive this battle first. Remember, we're all racing against the clock to stop these people before civilians and the authorities get caught up in the fighting."
At this, De-Condenser carried on: "That's right. Fortunately, we seem to be the only thing these people are focused on right now, so we need to try and keep the fighting contained to this building alone. Fortunately for you three young Heroes; we all know this building and its little secrets as best as can be, which gives us a big advantage over our assailants. Now enough talk. We need to get everything into place."
Their Agency's leader and their respective mentor's pure conviction in their duty as Heroes was a great example for the three Yuuei students, but before they could think of cheering in agreement; Chiaroscuro suddenly knelt down, tearing away at the small carpet of the elevator and revealing what looked to be a small trap door. Upon opening it, she reached further down, and the sound of a ladder quickly unfolding and descending down the shaft echoed up to them.
With that, she turned her attention to Leonid. "You're still considered a civilian in this situation, Linguist-san, so we can't have you getting caught in the crossfire. If you take this ladder down to the bottom of the elevator shaft, you'll find another trap door that will lead you down into a secret panic room I had installed in case we ever got directly attacked. You'll stay safe in there until we can neutralize our attackers."
Even despite the lingering pain in his side, Leonid gave no attempt at arguing with her, taking the moment to wish every one of the Heroes his gratitude, wishes for them to be careful; and best of luck before making his way down. Once they could hear the sound of another trap door opening and subsequently closing from the bottom of the shaft, Chiaroscuro hurriedly hit the same button that was apparently on the bottom of the elevator; causing the ladder to retract, and from there, the entire thing actually began to descend again, much to the student's surprise; given the power to the whole building had been sapped away before the explosions had started.
"Like many other buildings these days, we have a whole backup power system in case of situations like this, except ours is specifically wired to where we can control where that backup power goes; that way outside eyes can't know what to expect, like the people out there right now. Although, if the people attacking us really are who Linguist-san is suggesting...or worse, who I'm sure we all may be thinking they are instead, I have no doubt they'll be gunning for that generator, regardless, so they can keep us totally in the dark." De-Condenser explained resolutely, which finally spurred the interns to speak up, with Mina immediately asking with that same unmistakable nervousness:
"But Sensei, how can we make a plan if we still don't know how many people are attacking us? Like, what if it's all of them? And like Chiaroscuro-sensei said; we have no idea where they'd be coming in from! We'd be totally outnumbered and caught off-guard! That's just plain unfair!" Of course, nobody, not even the Pros, could rightfully deny that Mina's worries were very well-founded. But they couldn't let that uncertainty register, not here in front of the students they were supposed to be teaching and preparing for the fight ahead.
Following her train of thought, Nikolay's fists clenched as he uttered the ultimate truth to their single best bet: "She's right. If we're going to have a real chance against any number of these people, whoever they really are; we're going to need to split up and form holding points for us to protect. We can't afford to stay all hunched up together as a single group like this. That'd just make us a bigger target. But they're probably counting on us doing that, like Kyouka-san said, to pick us off."
As such, Chiaroscuro and her fellow Pros ushered the three teens in as they huddled together. "Right…except we have a little extra security measure they probably weren't counting on, considering Mitsudo-san's Quirk. It'll help make our fortification and positioning much more feasible, Nightingale-kun, Pinky-kun, Earphone Jack-kun. Now, we're going to need to position ourselves throughout the building in preparation. Interns will stay with their respective mentors, no matter where they're ultimately positioned; and one of us is going to need to head to the bottom-most level to protect the backup generator. As long as we have electricity and control over all the security measures for the building, we have an advantage, especially from where High Noon can step in. Now we don't have much time, so let's get a plan going, people."
Outside the Kapenta Hero Agency, Hristofor, Eliška and Maja were all watching the blasted open windows intently behind their matching black masks with red cross hairs emblazoned on the foreheads; only for their three ear pieces to simultaneously go off; the voice of the sniper Angel's Eye answering the moment they opened the channel: [[I'm keeping an eye on the windows, but the backup power still hasn't come on in response to my EMP round. It can't be possible these Heroes would be careless enough not to have a backup, could it?]]
Grimacing, the Czech woman answered: [[Of course not. Busting in the windows may have reduced the number of places they can realistically hide, but that doesn't mean they probably don't already have some kind of setup inside to trap us. Still, we can't just sit out here twiddling our thumbs. We're going to have to move in anyway.]]
Watching the state of the building and all of the openings of the windows, Hristofor smirked in confidence. [[Luckily, busting in all those windows will make it impossible for them to know where we'll be coming in from. They'll undoubtedly try to split up throughout in order to try and catch at least one of us off-guard under that assumption, ultimately splitting their forces asunder and allowing us to completely overwhelm at least a few, when the others can't come in to back them up in time.]]
At that moment, a faint buzzing sound could suddenly be heard emanating from the whole building, and before their eyes, every one of the windows was suddenly sealed shut with what were clearly heavily armored shutters, completely cutting off their view from outside. The moment they saw this, Eliška angrily tuned in to her earpiece: [[Angel's Eye, you better tell me you've got some armor piercing rounds on you! They're trying to force us in through one entrance!]]
[[Not to worry, Comrade Petto. It's going to take me a little time to get the rounds set up at both my vantage points, but it will get done.]]
Under his breath, Hristofor muttered in similar anger: [[We can't afford to just sit out here and wait for our sniper to get himself properly equipped. Every second we waste out here, the Heroes are undoubtedly better securing themselves; not to mention the cops.]]
Taking this opportunity, Maja finally spoke up: [[Further yet, we need to remember to try and grab that sidekick of De-Condenser's for Commander Pietro. If anything, she's the biggest priority in the long run. But if we want to figure out just what Heroes are waiting for us first, why don't we send our new comrades in to test them out?]]
As if on cue, she and her two comrades looked back to find a now ready, heavily armed and visibly willing and able Ilya Toptunov and Anatoly Grischenko, both decked out in their armored harnesses from before, with an especially new and improved support rig set up around the latter's still heavily bandaged legs. Both men looked just as much in their element as they had ever been, almost as though they had no true idea of just how it was they had been brought out here into this specific battlefield, fighting alongside those that they should have known were their sworn enemies; all the while eyeing the building before them with the full intent to kill all they found inside, based on who they had been explained not to eliminate.
With their respective guns cocked, Ilya and Anatoly began rushing for the front doors to the building, with Eliška, Maja and Hristofor following close behind them. Lining themselves up at the door and peeking in, the lobby was awash in darkness. The two now-rewritten soldiers kept themselves silent, instead giving swift and concise military hand signals to each other to discuss their entry strategy, ultimately settling for both men throwing a single flash bang inside together, and with the two flashes and loud booms that followed, they quickly moved in with their guns raised; their scopes both set on a night vision setting so they could see, but no laser sights to tip off any potential waiting enemies of their aim and location.
There was no sign of any unnatural movement in any corners of the lobby from what they could see, and the same was able to be said for the three soldiers following in their wake, keeping their eyes and ears open for the first sign of trouble. The further they went in, there was soon a muffled booming sound that they could hear coming from above. It sounded as though Angel's Eye had already managed to get his armor-piercing rounds loaded from every position he needed, and was starting to whittle down the shutters on the windows.
The moment the heads of Ilya and Anatoly's shadows finally stepped into the part of the lobby that the natural light from the outside wasn't reaching, both men were suddenly reeled forward right off their feet into the dark, slamming hard into the wall opposite the doors, forcing Eliška, Maja and Hristofor to hurriedly huddle up in the spot in the light where their shadows couldn't touch the others created by the door frame.
[[So, it's High Noon we have to deal with first, huh?]] Hristofor muttered in preparation to himself and his comrades; all of them listening and watching as Ilya and Anatoly struggled to anchor themselves either to the floor or the walls they were being thrown or flipped into. Clearly their rigs were keeping them from being incapacitated so easily.
Before long, a number of microscopic cameras mounted in multiple corners across the lobby began to start flashing at set frequencies and locations from all over, and each time they did, one of the numerous objects in a certain direction being projected upon that was not bolted down would suddenly get sent flying, as though by an invisible hand, to one of the two men. At first this was catching them off guard, but ultimately it turned into an obvious stalemate, as all their growing senses of alertness allowed them to get into defensive positions and start popping off rounds, destroying every projectile High Noon could throw at them before even making an impact; with Eliška, Maja and Hristofor soon doing the very same with their own firearms.
High Noon was clearly using an aspect of their security system to allow her Quirk to grab the objects in whichever part of the room she had raced to, and fling them as a distraction. Unfortunately, they were already getting very wise to her game, and leaving her a decreasing number of options on how to get them off guard.
At a moment while Anatoly was whittling away at a single chair being flung his way, Ilya took that moment to reach to his belt and pull out a small cylindrical charge, pulling the pin from it and throwing it high up into the air directly between himself, Anatoly, and the rest of their momentarily protected comrades.
FWOOOSH!
A blinding red light suddenly erupted from the charge, revealing itself to be an especially powerful flare, as the light refused to dissipate, illuminating the entire lobby and projecting the shadows of every person and remaining object directly to the walls behind them, and ultimately revealing where High Noon currently was out in an open corner of the lobby, with no objects nearby that had shadows extended long enough for her own to grab it.
With the click of numerous guns in response to her being seen, High Noon knew they'd ultimately forced her to fall back, already claiming themselves a ground advantage as she dived for the nearby stairwell door, throwing herself around the door frame and out of sight just in time for a small burst of gunfire from all of them to erupt, pelting the wall she had just flipped behind with holes.
Running or not, however, they weren't about to let their first target slip away so easily, as Eliška darted after High Noon, nearly sliding on her soles through the doorway into the stairwell with several strands of her hair already in her hand; reeled back and in the middle of being thrown for the stairs she knew the Hero would be running up.
However, she was surprised to find not only High Noon, but also the two Hero interns she remembered as Nikolay Bezpalov and Mina Ashido both standing at the ready for their mentor's return, and the first sign of one of her assailants; as the two young Heroes immediately met the Czech woman's first sign of an attack with a precise and far-reaching flow of acid and an especially strong and contained kinetic blast altogether, melting away her hair strands, and slamming her back into the corner all at once.
That bought the trio just the few seconds they needed to retreat further up the stairs while Eliška hurriedly got back to her feet; the rest of her comrades hurriedly catching up to make sure she was alright.
[[Dammit, their interns already got here, so that makes three extra Heroes we gotta deal with. If we can take out their backup power, that'll take away their fancy security system and make this a lot simpler.]] As her eyes refused to leave the stairs above, Hristofor was visibly concocting a plan of his own.
[[There's no way they would risk having their backup generator on the upper floors where a well-placed explosive round could take it out. They must be keeping it in one of the basement levels.]] The moment he came to this conclusion, he hurriedly turned and pointed an official finger at Anatoly. [[You, come with me. We're going down there and knocking out the power. Petto, Knot, you take the big one with you, and if you need any assistance, don't hesitate to call for me.]]
In response to that, their earpieces suddenly went off, and they were soon being greeted by the sound of Angel's Eye's voice again: [[Don't worry, Comrade Blackout. I've already managed to punch some well-placed holes in their little shutters. If the others should run into any trouble, I can keep them covered until you return. You all might want to hurry, too. We won't have long before the police get here.]]
With that, and a unanimous nod of understanding, the invading soldiers quickly split up, with Hristofor and Anatoly descending into the darkness of the basement levels, while the two female soldiers and Ilya began making their way up in pursuit of High Noon, Nikolay and Mina.
As Hristofor and Anatoly finally reached the door to the first sub-level, their only means to get down to the second and final sub-level of the whole building; they found themselves stepping into a room made up of a single waiting area with a small computer monitor, with the rest being an extensive section covered in what looked like a grid on every surface. Right off the bat, they both stopped, looking the whole thing over before Anatoly finally muttered: [[This place is obviously some kind of trap.]]
[[No kidding. They probably have eyes on this spot, just waiting for the moment we step on that grid. I can remedy that.]] Speaking this in a particularly confident manner, the Bulgarian began to approach the grid; his eyes scanning everything through the night vision scope he'd taken from his momentary comrade's rifle once they had descended deeper into the darkness.
All the while, neither of the men knew just how anxiously Kyouka and Blast Beat felt when waiting for the two to step that few feet further onto the grid. In their preparation for the inevitable move for the generator the invaders would make; her mentor had made sure to grab a mobile control for the training grid before shutting off the mounted monitor at the entrance. Without having to risk exposing themselves, they would be able to stop these two in their tracks and hopefully even wear them down enough to actually move in and capture them.
However, now that they knew the men were far more alert than they'd given them credit for; the two Heroes now found themselves having to rely on one of the cameras to see when the time was right to activate the training system and the robots that came with it.
"We should wait until they're actually in the middle of the grid before we activate it. Then they'll be surrounded on all sides and overwhelmed that much quicker." Kyouka suggested in a hushed whisper; Blast Beat already nodding in agreement, having thought of that minutes ago.
It didn't take long for Hristofor himself to spot the camera set up on the farthest corner of the room, and just as quickly did he put his Quirk into effect when making eye contact with its scope, shrouding its feed in complete blackness, and effectively leaving Blast Beat and Kyouka completely blind in their hiding spot.
"Dammit. How can we know when to activate the training robots if we can't see where those guys are?" Kyouka asked, just above the point of mouthing her words, while Blast Beat was already busily readjusting his mobile control.
"Don't panic just yet, Earphone Jack-kun. We have one more trick to catch them unawares: Those jacks of yours. You must be able to hear their footsteps through the ground already, so when they reach the center of the room, you let me know, and I can manually activate all the training programs at once. No matter how well equipped these people are, it should easily overwhelm them enough to where we can subdue them ourselves."
CLINK, CLINK, CLINK!
At the most poetically appropriate moment, the sound of someone or something stepping along the panels for the training room echoed down to them; at least Kyouka could tell, already keeping her earphone jacks plugged into the floor to listen for the intruders' positions.
"Sensei, they're actually going for it. I think they might already have reached the center." The moment the purple-haired girl noted this, Blast Beat immediately hit every one of the buttons on the control, activating every offensive measure for their training room at once. If this all-around barrage wouldn't be able to stop their specific targets, then he and Kyouka would ultimately be the last line of defense for the others' security backup.
Echoing down to them was a cacophony of numerous and quite overwhelming-sounding mechanical whirs, followed by a multitude of physical blows, explosive blasts and automatic gunfire. It felt like it was ongoing for a good couple of minutes, at first leaving Kyouka and Blast Beat curious just how on Earth the training robots could still have to fight the two men for this long, especially if one of them apparently didn't have a Quirk.
However, when the commotion had finally died down, they both felt a momentary uptick of hope that their ambush plan had actually worked, and they hadn't had to actually lift a finger themselves. If so, this would hopefully make things much easier for them in terms of capturing these two and then going up to assist the others. They had heard the gunfire in the lobby beforehand. They could only hope that High Noon, Nikolay and Mina were still all right.
However, before they could decide if it was okay for them to head up and investigate the aftermath of their trap, Kyouka's triangular eyes widened with disbelief, as her jacks were able to pick up the sound of two distinctly human pairs of footsteps starting to descend the stairs to their level.
Thankfully, Blast Beat was quick on the uptake when he saw this dread befall his intern; hurriedly grabbing Kyouka by the hand and rushing on the lightest feet for a farther hiding spot in this bottom-most sub-level where the backup generator was mounted to the wall.
It didn't take long after, before both Heroes could clearly tell their enemies had now entered this very same room; especially when they could hear the voices of the two men whispering amongst themselves as they moved in, even if neither of them could actually understand.
[[Has your Quirk always been able to blind machinery like it does with people, or was that something Commander Pietro taught you?]] Anatoly asked, unable to hide his surprise at having seen his dark-haired and mustachioed comrade use his Blackout Quirk to send all of the numerous massive robots they had been ambushed by, blindly crashing and attacking each other until there was nothing but a whole room full of smoking scrap metal; allowing them to cross completely unperturbed; all after having simply thrown one of his boots into the middle of the room on a hunch of there being a trap.
Hristofor continued to scan the pitch black basement with the night vision scope as he signaled for his leg-braced partner to keep quiet. His sense of environmental awareness was at an all time high, and after the attempt at a trap on the level above, he had no doubts that at least one Hero was lying in wait down here for them, and they needed to be ready to fight back.
Besides, he was far from feeling in a talkative mood with one of the men ultimately responsible for Pietro being in the state he was now in; regardless if he was now on their side or not. If this entire battle were to ultimately end in Anatoly and Ilya getting killed, it wouldn't be any great loss where the young Bulgarian man stood.
Within seconds, he came to a stop and once again motioned for Anatoly to stop. [[I see the generator just up ahead. We take that out, we gain the advantage, and I can stop having to use this damn thing to see.]]
[[I still can't believe your Quirk doesn't let you see in the dark if you just make people and machines see darkness anyway. What good does that do for you?]] Anatoly muttered disappointedly to himself; all his years of hatred for Quirks having been instantly wiped away and replaced with a person's inherent fascination in them, thanks to Pietro's Memory Rewrite.
"EARPHONE JACKS STRIKE!"
In the moment following the sudden burst of a Japanese girl's voice from within the darkness out of Hristofor's current line of sight; the entire basement shook with a deafening high-pitched ring that nearly knocked him and Anatoly right off their feet, like a wall of pure microphone feedback.
However, Kyouka (despite still feeling a great sense of surprise when having managed to make out the name 'Pietro' amid the two men's Russian back-and-forth) and Blast Beat didn't waste even a moment after she'd unleashed the first of her special moves, as she hurriedly used the building pulse stores from her racing heartbeat while plugging her earphone jacks into the speakers on her gloves. "HEARTBEAT DISTORTION!"
With that, she brought her hands straight to the ground, releasing a massive shock wave that broke the concrete ground apart like a bomb had gone off, sending the two assailants flying across the room.
With a little more time having been bought for them, and especially with the two invaders currently stunned, Blast Beat hurriedly moved in, granting his intern a congratulatory fist bump along the way before planting a blue patch from his costume onto his unfolding guitar. "MOODY BLUES RUSH!"
With his own declaration of his special move through his Quirk and equipment following right on Kyouka's heels, Blast Beat began hurriedly striking several resonating melancholic chords that seemed to practically flood the whole basement; his aim being to sap away both men's fighting spirits so he and Kyouka could officially capture them both with no further risk. He and his intern had thankfully discussed this little double-team attack strategy of theirs, and thus Kyouka knew to keep her ears covered once his time came.
For the first few seconds, he could see both Hristofor and Anatoly's aggression start to wane. If he could just keep this up for a few more seconds, they would nearly be comatose, and that would be two of their enemies taken care of with little to no bloodshed.
However, with the last spark of energy he had before it could get sapped away, Anatoly hurriedly grabbed a smaller cylindrical cartridge from his belt, hit the button at the top of it, and tossed it across the floor to Blast Beat and Kyouka's feet.
Just before the Pro Hero could instinctively dive and get Kyouka behind cover; instead of the expected explosion, the object instead let out a piercing siren that completely drowned out the sound and effect of Blast Beat's pacifying technique, while also leaving himself and Kyouka severely distorted as the noise was at a frequency that couldn't possibly be blocked out; the young girl's earphone jacks twitching and darting out this way and that as her face wrenched with pain at the realization that simply blocking her ears wasn't doing a damn thing.
The ringing only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like forever for the two Heroes; for by the time it had finally finished, their ears were still ringing something terrible, to the point that neither of them were able to hear Hristofor and Anatoly rushing for them through the dark; the interruption of Blast Beat's technique causing all of their energy and aggression to come rushing right back into them.
It was only through sheer animal instinct that Kyouka and Blast Beat were able to keep from getting decked to the floor right off the bat, as they could feel the approaching fists disrupting the air, and their rushing boots on the ground vibrating the unstable ground, thus allowing the two Heroes to somehow manage to keep from receiving the worst of blows, even though they couldn't efficiently see in order to fight back more effectively. All they were able to maintain was a desperate defense.
Kyouka's years of practice with her ultimately casual martial arts skills in combination with her Quirk were thankfully allowing her to put up a halfway decent fight against Hristofor; but the mustachioed Bulgarian was similarly keeping up an admittedly impressive mixture of defense and offense, able to pinpoint the girl's position in front of him by the sounds of her grunting with every strike she tried to land, while a few times he could feel the tiniest puncturing sensations in the palms of his hands and forearms, followed by an especially strong pulsating strike immediately following, trembling up and down his arms.
Several times he tried to use his Quirk on her in kind, but the fact she was still managing to keep fighting in this darkness left him wondering if she was actually thinking to either keep her eyes closed, or even be desperate enough to cover her eyes with her arms in order to keep herself protected enough to focus.
Of course, in the end, it made no difference to Hristofor. She was still smaller than him, and with that fancy high-pitched ringing device Anatoly had used, her speed and precision was still clearly disoriented enough that he was causing her to back away; the perfect sign that this fight was ultimately his. [[You know, I don't normally like to fight girls…but since you're in the way of something far more important, don't expect any special treatment, brat!]]
All the while as this fight was going on, Blast Beat was similarly managing a standoff of a fight with Anatoly, who was similarly managing to exercise some impressive CQC capabilities, even while fighting in pitch blackness on ground that had been severely broken up and left unlevel thanks to Kyouka's Heartbeat Distortion. The few times the Jukebox Hero actually managed to land a solid hit ended up feeling like he'd hit a reinforced steel wall, thanks to the rig around the bald Slav's body.
After a good couple of minutes of this continuous back and forth with no breathing room to even try using their Quirks, Blast Beat knew he needed to do something to get them a chance to regroup.
After ducking below another high right hook from Anatoly and sending a responding kick straight into his shin, earning a badly pained grunt and groan from the man in response, Blast Beat hurriedly grabbed several of the bullet-shaped mini-bombs from his belt; all the while listening for the sound of Kyouka's voice so he'd know where to rush to grab her once he'd thrown these to the ground. Even in the dark, it would hopefully prove enough to disorient Anatoly and Hristofor enough.
KA-CHIK!
The unmistakable sound of an assault rifle's bolt lever clicking into place echoed all across the basement; spurring a kneejerk reaction out of Kyouka, who had miraculously been managing to listen to the position of her mentor in the middle of his own fight while still barely managing to hold her own.
The moment she'd heard that mechanical sound, she felt her heart jump up into her throat as she threw her gaze to the direction she knew Blast Beat to be in, launching both her earphone jacks forward, to him and the source of the noise together. "SENSEI!"
RATATATATAT!
A sudden deafening cacophony of automatic gunfire suddenly sounded from the direction Blast Beat had kicked Anatoly into, just at the very same moment he felt the slightest piercing sensation in his left side, before a huge pulsation sensation rippled through his body with enough force to send him flying to his right, just out of the line of fire.
K-KRASH!
After but a moment of fully automatic gunfire, Anatoly suddenly felt his rifle explode to high-flying pieces in his hand, as Kyouka's other jack stepped into the body of the weapon; the resultant pulse destroying it from the inside out. His combat reflexes had him reacting almost instantly, however, as his free hand was already reaching back for his sidearm, while the young girl responsible for interrupting his assault once again found herself fully occupied by Hristofor.
FSSSH!
Just as he began to aim where he could hear her desperate fighting grunts, though, a sudden bright red flare light ignited right in between them; Anatoly's eyes getting a full blast of the penetrating light and sending him rolling back, screaming in shock and anguish as his eyes burned, just before Blast Beat came rushing in and nailing him across the face with a well-placed soccer player's kick, knocking his lights out instantly.
The sudden intrusion of light had thankfully given Kyouka an added edge in her fight against Hristofor, while Blast Beat was simply grateful he'd thrown his emergency flare bullet bomb from his belt first. However, he couldn't dwell on the momentary victory over one of their assailants; his intern still needed his help, and there was a whole other issue to worry about now as well:
Anatoly's momentary free fire had ultimately found its mark; unfortunately riddling the backup generator with holes, having since resulted in a flare up of sparks and immediate fire as the entire thing was left almost entirely destroyed.
As a result, the wiring for the generator into the whole building was now going completely haywire; causing the lights of the basement, and undoubtedly the rest of the building and all its systems, to start fluctuating on and off as well.
Kyouka's adrenaline and aggression was entirely focused on Hristofor before her, as she suddenly kicked herself up off the ground into a crane kick and sent her earphone jacks flying right for his face all at once, while he was only just now realizing the assault that was coming his way as well.
The moment Kyouka's foot actually managed to connect with his jaw, her entire field of vision suddenly turned to complete blackness, and the very moment after, she felt her earphone jacks being snatched before they could hit, and her whole body nearly get wrangled right behind them; the full weight of her body slamming hard into the concrete as Hristofor used the anger and pain flaring from his jaw and several broken teeth to flip the girl up and over into the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"JIROU-KUN! YOU BASTARD, HOW DARE YOU?!" The fury in Blast Beat's voice stopped Hristofor as he had his pistol halfway drawn, ready to empty the whole clip in Kyouka's head in her momentary stun. The moment Hristofor lifted his gaze, ready to take away the Jukebox Hero's eyesight as well, he was instead met with the sight of his collapsible guitar (now having compacted itself once more) flying right for his face and slamming against his nose hard.
The young Bulgarian's head was ringing as his mask and nose both broke under the weight and force behind it, just as Blast Beat's tool ricocheted off his face and right back into its rightful user's waiting hand, unfolding back into its full shape at his touch. The moment he felt it fill his hand once more, Blast Beat immediately removed a purple patch from the side of his vest and slapped it against the body, before using that very same momentum to strike his fingers down all six chords; producing a resonant and crunching sound of what Kyouka's musical knowledge would have helped her recognize as sludge; so heavy that Hristofor suddenly felt his body getting slammed down into the ground from above, as if the very air itself around him had become exponentially heavier, knocking the wind right out of him before the pain ultimately caused him to lose consciousness.
The moment he knew the last of their two enemies was down for the count, Blast Beat hurried over to Kyouka, who from the looks of it thankfully seemed to have gotten her eyesight back, as she saw her mentor coming, and gladly took his hand as he helped her back to her feet. "Are you okay, Jirou-kun?!"
She wasn't remotely surprised her mentor sounded so worried after having seen her take a fall as hard as she had. "Well, my head is still ringing a bit...and I know I'm gonna be feeling a lot of that guy's hits tomorrow...but other than that, I think I'm okay. Thank you for the save, Sensei...but I think we've got proof of who these people are now."
In response to this, Blast Beat was already proceeding to hoist Anatoly's unconscious body over his shoulders. "We can discuss all that later; we can't stay down here. We may have won the fight, but these guys still got what they came own here for."
Very curious by what he meant, Kyouka turned to the direction of the backup generator, and felt her blood go cold when she saw the thing riddled with several flaming bullet holes...and that was when her nose finally started to pick up the faint scent of gas in the air.
At some point in that momentary gunfire, one of the rounds clearly had to have hit one of the basement gas lines; and that was all either of the Heroes needed to guess to be sent running as fast as they could; the purple-haired Hero student practically dragging Hristofor's unconscious body behind her up the steps and across the destroyed training room, hot on her mentor's heels as he ran for the elevator doors, rapidly hitting the emergency open button.
The moment the doors began to slide open, Blast Beat practically threw Anatoly inside before grabbing Hristofor's feet and helping Kyouka toss him inside as well. Once they were both in the elevator, Blast Beat grabbed Kyouka by the collar of her leather jacket and threw her inside before she could even make a peep; rushing in after her and using all the physical strength he could to force the elevator doors closed again. Fortunately, Kyouka was quick on the uptake as she hurriedly joined his side and began trying to push the doors together as much as her thin frame could as well. The two doors were inching closer and closer by the second. The two Heroes could only hope and pray that they'd get the doors closed in time before-
BKOOOOOOM!
The entire Kapenta Hero Agency was rocked down to its foundations and beyond, as the entire second sub-level was annihilated, and nearly the entire first sub-level along with it; with Kyouka and Blast Beat only barely managing to avoid getting burnt to a pair of cinders, thanks to having gotten the elevator doors closed just in time.
Of course, the blast wave nearly blew those doors right back into their faces, but other than being tossed right back into the wall, and hard, from the force; Kyouka was thankfully still in relatively good shape, even if a couple trails of blood were starting to run down her forehead from the two consecutive blows to her head in the last couple of minutes.
The power of the explosion in the basement could be felt all the way to the very top of the Kapenta Hero Agency, as the floors shook from beneath the feet of everyone still inside. It was truly a terrifying moment, even if it only lasted for that long. By the time it had run its course, all remaining security systems and other electrical functions had officially been sapped away, plunging the rest of the building into complete darkness, only further and further punctuated by numerous sniper rifle shots pounding holes into the shuttered windows every thirty seconds, and from opposite directions that would have made it impossible for a single sharpshooter to be moving to and fro from if they didn't have a Quirk.
Of course, none of these facts were on the minds of the invaders carefully making their way through the third of the four floors of the building. For the last couple of minutes, not only had they thoroughly swept through the second floor and found nothing and nobody, but they had then been focused on breaking through the door to the third floor from the stairwell, which had been heavily reinforced thanks to De-Condenser, thus forcing Ilya to pour through an entire clip from his assault rifle, on top of a battering from his massive frame afterwards, to break through. It was by the time they had gotten through that the explosion had occurred, and the whole building was now left a physically destabilized, slightly rocking tower inevitably on its way to total collapse; putting an even stricter time limit on the assault team to get what they had come for and then get out of here, earning a clearly frustrated muttering of [[Those goddamn idiots]] from Eliška.
Staying silent as they made their way down the hall, routinely checking each room as they passed it by, there at first seemed to be no sign of any Heroes waiting to get the drop on them. However, it was only a couple doors down that High Noon and Chiaroscuro were waiting in grim silence for when the rest of the invaders would finally come to their respective doors, and it would, from there, turn into a fight for their lives.
The two Heroes had the last couple of minutes to realize their enemies' outside sharpshooter was starting to puncture through their windows shutters, and thus had taken the measure to hide in places the windows wouldn't provide a clear view to. There was still no telling what angle they were shooting from, but if the duo were going to have a chance at fighting those inside their building, this was ultimately the best they were going to be able to do in order to avoid getting shot.
After a couple nerve-wracking minutes of listening to the footsteps proceeding down the hall and checking each room, they had finally reached the door to the room High Noon was hiding in, and the moment the door slowly creaked open, and the lighter footsteps of the red-gold-haired woman Eliška began stepping in; the young female Pro Hero knew it was time to finally act, tossing a small lit line of firecrackers into the center of the room from the shadows while her opponent was looking in the opposite corner.
POPOPOPOPOPOP!
With a rapid-fire series of bursting popping noises illuminating the room, Eliška had to instinctively shield her eyes from the light, but was barely able to glimpse High Noon rushing around the edge of the room, running to get the right angle so that both their shadows would make contact, and she could finally start to wrangle her enemy properly.
Of course, the Czech woman was similarly prepared to fight back, plucking several strands of her hair from the back of her head as she shielded her eyes, and figuring the trajectory of where High Noon was moving, began to flick one after another in the direction she would go, granting the Hero little to no time to counteract.
However, months of experience from her own times working in Gagaringrad, on top of what she'd seen the foreign woman try to do minutes ago in the lobby, helped High Noon to know exactly how to prepare this impromptu trap of hers, as she immediately began manipulating several small objects around her as she ran by their shadows, throwing them in front to act as last second shields against Eliška's Quirk taking hold.
Within seconds, she had finally reached her corner of the room she needed to be so that the still-exploding firecrackers' light would project both women's shadows on the same wall. With that, she practically kicked herself off the wall, launching herself in Eliška's direction, flipping her right off her feet and onto her back the moment their shadows made contact, only to immediately dive for cover when her now-downed opponent quickly pulled out her sidearm and began popping off rounds after High Noon, freeing herself just as quickly as she'd been caught.
At the same time, out in the hall, the moment Ilya had heard the sound of a huge fight breaking out in the room he had just passed, he was already about to move in to intercept, only for one of the wall panels of the hall that stood between him and Eliška's door to suddenly swing open alongside the next door right behind him, prompting him to aim his rifle, only to immediately be met by the sight of a mirror mounted on the inside of the door and the wall panel together, both ultimately reflecting the sight of an older middle-aged woman with graying purple hair and a large cloak over her shoulders, somehow managing to look him in the eyes through said reflections.
However, even a sight like this couldn't frighten him as he instead began to move in: [[You just went and gave away your whole position, old woman!]]
However, the moment he began to turn his field of vision to make his way inside, he suddenly realized that both of the images of the woman were still dead center in his field of view, as though they had been superimposed directly onto his eyes themselves, effectively blocking off the majority of his vision.
Inside the room itself, with the pull of a small hidden manual lever, several more wall panels suddenly opened up down both ends of the hall and across the room Chiaroscuro was hiding in, each one holding a mirror directly inside it as well that was meticulously angled just right so that each one caught her reflection perfectly. When Ilya stumbled confusedly inside, he began to see the same woman's reflection in several of them, and with each passing second, those same reflections began imposing themselves on top of one another until they completely overwhelmed the rest of his vision, effectively leaving Ilya completely blind, and giving Chiaroscuro the opening she needed to take this especially big opponent down with little to no effort. "You ought to learn the importance of fighting and planning with more than just your eyes, you fool!"
K-KRAK!
A sudden sniper shot punching another hole through this specific window shutter ended up forcing Chiaroscuro to double back before she could close in on Ilya, and the sound of her instinctive gasp of surprise and retreating footsteps allowed Ilya to pinpoint where she was, even through his loss of vision, thus allowing him to aim his gun her way.
With his finger holding down the trigger, he unleashed a full barrage of high-powered bullets, while Chiaroscuro was ultimately forced to dive behind cover and swiftly make her way to the other end of the room while avoiding several more sniper shots through the shutters, illuminating the room more and more, and exposing herself as a result.
Eventually, the older female Pro Hero was able to get behind Ilya's back just as his magazine had run dry, allowing her to jump in and grab the larger man in an impressive grapple with the aid of her now detached cloak, restraining his right arm and neck with it, before using her momentum and leverage to throw them both back out into the hall, just at the same time that Eliška and High Noon had ultimately ended up bursting out of their own room as well; the two having managed to get close enough that the Czech woman couldn't have time to aim her hair strands, and therefore they had no choice but to engage in direct hand-to-hand combat; both of them proving quite evenly matched despite both having already gained some bruises, busted lips and a bleeding nose; High Noon unable to hide the look of surprise in her eyes upon recognizing the Czech woman's face after finally breaking her mask off.
Before Chiaroscuro could try to assist her fellow Hero through her Quirk, the rig on Ilya's body allowed him to fight back against her grapple on him enough to where he was able to pry her off and send her tumbling further down the hall, but not before she managed to unclasp his rifle from the strap over his shoulders, depriving him of his weapon and smashing it to pieces against the floor the moment he realized this, displaying impressive physical strength despite her advanced age for a Pro Hero.
With their having made it into the shadow-filled hallway with several beams of light thanks to all the now-opened wall mirrors, High Noon knew she had once again gained a huge advantage, immediately capitalizing by placing her foot at an angle where hers and Eliška's shadows touched, allowing her to officially throw herself into a flip, and subsequently throw her opponent down the hall directly into Ilya's back as he started to pull out his sidearm, sending them both tumbling.
"NOW, HIGH NOON; BEFORE THEY GET UP AGAIN!" "RIGHT, SENSEI!" Unfortunately, while High Noon and Chiaroscuro were both moving in to intercept and take both their assailants down; getting thrown this close to her subordinate had unexpectedly given Eliška a distinct advantage of her own, as even when she was still down, she managed to pluck one of her hair strands out without either of the Heroes noticing, and jabbed it into Ilya's arm.
In an instant, both she and the larger man were back on their knees, and with every move of her arms and legs, she was not only managing to block Chiaroscuro's physical and distracting Quirk attacks, but she was also managing to reel and pull Ilya's limbs in tandem with hers, causing him to be able to counter and block High Noon's strikes as well. Even on the instances she was able to touch their shadows together, it turned into a tug-of-war for physical control between herself and Eliška, which the more aggressive woman was more than ready to play; ultimately managing to counter another of Chiaroscuro's jabs and return it with a strike to one of her eyes, stunning the veteran Hero enough to where she could then have Ilya directly grab onto High Noon's collar, and send her crashing into Chiaroscuro, through the door into another room with an almost entirely whittled away window shutter.
Releasing her control over Ilya's body, Eliška steadily made her way into the room with the larger man marching right after her, both their side arms drawn as they could see both Heroes slowly but surely getting back onto their feet. With one of her eyes momentarily out for the count, Chiaroscuro's ability to use her Quirk effectively had just been halved for about a minute, by her own calculation.
However, she'd fortunately managed to land in a spot in this particular room where another of the manual switches for the mirror traps was. If she were to just get a centimeter or two more to her left, she would be in the perfect spot to have her Quirk reflect off the mirrors and impose over both their enemies' eyes, granting at least High Noon a better chance at incapacitating them both thanks to the light from the outside. She could just see the switch right there underneath this specific desk.
As soon as High Noon was back on her feet, staring their assailants down, Eliška and Ilya both came to a stop, raising their pistols her way. what they didn't know, was that their position was just where both Heroes needed them to be, as Chiaroscuro finally hit the button underneath the desk.
In that instant, another mirror panel suddenly opened up from the hallway ceiling just behind the two Villains, and the beams of daylight through the perforated window shutter caught the glass at just the right angle; resulting in a blinding refraction that projected through the doorway into this small office, with both their shadows stretching across the floor and making contact with High Noon's.
The instant she knew this, the female Pro Hero clutched both her fists over their shadows, and proceeded to throw her whole body backwards up and over the desk to Chiaroscuro's position, reeling Eliška and Ilya through the air along with her, both their bodies slamming against the door frame along the way before being left an immobilized pile on the floor; the perfect scenario for their Pro Hero opponents to finally start converging on them for the capture.
K-KRAK!
Another distant rifle crack suddenly snapped through the air in the distance the moment Chiaroscuro to reach for her own Capture Tool. The very next instant after, her whole body jerked as though someone had just hit her right in her lower back with a fastball, and yet there was no pain, but instead this sensation of complete loss of physical feeling throughout her whole body, undoubtedly from momentary shock. There was also a hot wet feeling suddenly growing all over her midsection that she was quick to recognize as the sensation of major blood loss.
The moment High Noon saw her superior go down from one of the sniper's pot shots to her sternum, she suddenly felt a momentary pricking sensation in the side of her neck, and her entire body suddenly go flipping head over heels like a ragdoll before crashing right through the desk, laying prone right beside Chiaroscuro herself.
Angel's Eye's little diversion had given Eliška all the opportunity she'd needed to spit out a spare controlling hair strand she'd been keeping in her mouth for just such a desperate moment; allowing her to finally gain control over High Noon's body. She now stood tall and victorious between the two Heroes, able to quickly recognize as much as High Noon did, that Chiaroscuro was still alive, but unable to move.
[[You Heroes are more clever than I thought...but way too emotionally attached to each other. If you're in the middle of a battle, you fight until your enemy is dead; you don't stop a moment sooner.]]
With that mocking form of advice she couldn't resist rubbing in both their faces, she proceeded to send another strand of her hair into Chiaroscuro herself, and with a few precise movements of her arms, she managed to force both Heroes back onto their feet; the especially limp form of Chiaroscuro's body making her look like an especially depraved handling of a marionette. High Noon wanted to punch, kick, bite, head-butt and scream at the two fiends before her for what they and their whole group had done to her leader, but Eliška's complete control over her forced her mouth to remain shut, and her body unable to fight back.
Instead, without even a gloating chuckle, but simple and pure indifference, the Czech woman proceeded to give a precise flick forward of her wrists, ultimately throwing High Noon and Chiaroscuro out the third-floor window and crashing onto the unforgiving ground below. With them both out of the way, she then proceeded to chime into her earpiece: [[Angel's Eye, we're heading further up to find The Giver. It's the last floor, so there's no doubt she and the rest must be hiding up there in wait. Finish off those two we just threw out; we don't need either of them trying to get back up and get in the way again.]]
[[Copy that.]]
With that, Eliška proceeded back out into the hall so they could continue their search, with Ilya loyally following right beside her, and leaving High Noon and Chiaroscuro to their sniper's mercy.
Outside, Angel's Eye found himself having been fortunate enough to be set up at an angle relative to the Kapenta building, that he had a clear shot of High Noon and Chiaroscuro, still lying prone and motionless on the ground. He'd never had a single doubt that his second remotely controlled rifle alongside him and his manual one, would provide a huge advantage for his comrades inside, and here was the proof of that already, having broken through half of their window shutters, and now having helped remove two Heroes from the field entirely.
He already had his own scope centered precisely on the two, his finger on the trigger and ready to plant a single round in both their heads.
However, just at the moment he was about to fire, he suddenly saw the bloodied older woman between them turn to face his direction, and in that instant, the image through his scope started expanding and zooming in outside his control, almost as though the distant sight itself were zooming in right into his eye, forcing the sniper to reel back in shock, especially when the more he blinked and tried to rub this image out of his eyes, the quicker he realized it was not only staying, but rapidly changing. His eyes were almost like a kaleidoscope of the entire environment around himself continuously warping and shifting, leaving him unable to see anything clearly and ultimately lose his sense of balance, writhing in panic on the rooftop.
Hearing this through the pain emanating from all over her body, High Noon was slowly struggling to get up, only slightly managing to look at her senior and boss lying beside her with a visibly relieved smirk on her pained face. "Chiaroscuro…sensei…what did you do?"
Chuckling and coughing in pain simultaneously, Chiaroscuro answered: "For the last few minutes those…sniper shots had been going on, punching through our window shutters…I noticed they'd been coming from two vastly different directions…more so than a Quirkless sharpshooter on his own two feet would be able to…switch back and forth from.
"I'd been preparing myself for a chance to disorient at least one…if not both, when given the chance. However, while we were falling just now, I actually managed to catch a glimpse of the direction the shot that had hit me came from…only there wasn't an actual shooter…just the gun itself on some kind of a tripod; probably remote-controlled. That ultimately told me where to look so…so I could use my Kaleido-Vision special move on the actual shooter himself. It won't last long though, and I'm too weak to use it again so soon…so we need to get out of the open…somehow."
Following her fellow Hero's example, High Noon began urgently checking their surroundings in relation to the angle of the sunlight upon them, and to her relief, she could see that the very edge of her left hand's shadow was touching the edge of the shadow of a nearby building and the alleyway next to it. Looking back to Chiaroscuro, she fought through the pain of her crash landing and reached her right hand out to where its shadow could finally touch the shadow of her left.
"I'm getting us…out of this, Sensei…I promise. Get ready." With that one warning, High Noon proceeded to focus her Quirk as best she could, and slowly but surely, she and Chiaroscuro began slide across the sidewalk into the cover of the alleyway; albeit leaving a trail of the veteran Hero's blood behind in their wake.
Once they knew for a fact they were out of the open, High Noon finally released her shadow's grip on her bosses' shadow, fighting to catch her breath from the mix of pain and exhaustion she was now going through, with Chiaroscuro faring no better. They may have been safe for now, especially when looking and seeing that their building was visibly teetering back and forth from its damaged foundations because of the basement explosion; but none of this changed the fact that they were both officially out for the count, and could only hope the rest of their allies would be able to handle themselves better for all their sakes.
On the fourth and final floor of the building, Nikolay, Mina, De-Condenser and The Giver were anxiously lying in wait, still trying to ride out the anxiety and fear that left them all trembling in the wake of the explosion. Of course, it wasn't even the fact they could feel the building was now off balance through their feet that had them the most scared, as Nikolay finally brought himself to ask: "There still hasn't been any word. Do you think Kyouka-san and the others are okay?"
The frightened tears in Mina's eyes all but asked the exact same question, keeping her fists balled up, but still visibly wishing the very same thing, sick with worry for all their friends in the floors below. Even The Giver was starting to let the youth of her age show, as she was visibly frightened too, even as she kept rubbing her hands together and delivering as much of a Quirk power-up as she could to De-Condenser, while he kept his eyes focused squarely on the double doors ahead of them.
"I really, really hope so, you two. If what you two saw in the stairwell is true, and these actually are Pietro's people attacking us...then they're clearly more combat adept than I ever would have expected, if they've managed to hold out against the others for this long. But it's going to take more than that to keep the Kapenta Heroes down…and I'm going to make sure of it. That's why once the fighting starts; I want you kids and Erumi-san to run for the back exit fire escape."
His sidekick and two interns all instantly turned and looked to the Pro Hero like he was speaking madness, with Mina immediately answering: "You seriously want us to just leave you here?! Sensei, no!" "Yeah, absolutely not! What kind of Heroes just leave their instructors alone against a threat like this?!"
Despite Mina and Nikolay's respective protests, De-Condenser still stood his ground as he began to approach the doors, planting his hand to both that would deliver an even further advanced density to them, before looping his hands through the handles. "The kind that are smart enough to listen to their teachers when they tell them what to do. Besides, you have more than just my safety to worry about, Nightingale-kun, Pinky-kun, Giver-kun. There are still the others and Linguist-san's lives to focus on as well. The back fire escape doesn't lead out into the open, but rather a small alcove that leads out to an opposite street. Their sniper shouldn't be able to get a bead on you that way, judging by the directions we've been hearing the shots come from. By that same calculation, you should also be able to slip back in through the front and check and see if the others are okay, so long as the coast is clear. I'll hold them off all the while and buy you all a chance."
De-Condenser's grips on the door handles tightened intensely as they could all now begin to hear the beginnings of several different footsteps beginning to ascend the last of the stairs to their floor. Unable to help himself in the stress of this situation, Nikolay put his ear to the wall and tried to listen. Soon, he could already start to make out the sound of Eliška's voices, alongside one adult man he didn't recognize, but had to assume was perhaps another Quirk-affected pawn sent to fight alongside them thanks to Pietro, whatever this power of his was.
Eyeing the worried looks on his two mentors' and best friend's faces, he listened closely and began to translate what he could make out between them all; his own eyes growing wider with his own worry as he went along: "There's…two of them. It's…that woman with that Puppeteer Quirk…but I don't know who the other is. They're...talking about more comrades of theirs...the ones who went into the basement...including that Hristofor guy with that sight blacking out Quirk."
He had to fight the urge to shudder right alongside Mina at the memory of the mustachioed creep who'd tried hitting on her before; made only worse now that they knew he was one of the people actively attacking them. The boy continued: "Looks like we were right; they blew the generator in the basement...but they've also lost contact with them. Oh thank God, that must mean Kyouka-san and Blast Beat-sensei were able to capture them after all."
While he and the others were all definitely relieved to know their friends had managed to remove two pieces from the board affectively, the explosion itself still couldn't help but leave them deeply worried for Kyouka and Blast Beat's sakes; on top of whatever could have happened to Chiaroscuro and High Noon for these people to already make it all the way up here.
Unable to stay silent with all of her fear building up, Mina turned imploringly to De-Condenser, pumping her fists with even greater anxiety: "Sensei, please, let us help. You know you'd have a way better chance if we did, right?"
De-Condenser grimaced with preparation as he gripped the door handles even tighter in preparation. "As long as we don't know for certain just how many adversaries we're dealing with here, and with that sniper still outside supporting them, we're literally outgunned, and these grounds are too constrictive for your specific fighting style, Pinky-kun. Besides, if you all can make it out of here, you'll still have a chance to reach out to the other Hero Agencies around and rally up the force we'd need to bring Pietro and this rabble down. Please, just do as I'm telling you this time and be ready to run as soon as I make my move. Understand?"
Mina bit her lip hard, trying to stop her tears as she began shaking with frustration at what a bad position they were in, even if she completely understood their mentor's reasoning. However, at the same time, Nikolay's head perked up with an idea. "Sensei, I might have a way to buy you a little extra advantage against these guys. I've only done it once before, but if I could do it again, it might really work."
With all eyes now on him with curiosity brimming, Nikolay took a deep and steadying breath, focusing his Quirk directly into his hands as he put them flush against the wall, thinking all the way back to when he had last done this. "Back at our summer training camp, I'd actually managed to put a remote distanced kinetic burst into the wall of the hot spring there to keep one of our classmates from peeking on the girls' side. I didn't know how I did it back then; I just assumed it was pure emotional desperation. If that's true…I might be able to do it here, too."
As Mina's eyes widened with remembrance of that one isolated incident, Nikolay tried to mentally put himself back into that moment, trying to remember just how much his heart raced, his mind burned, and his emotions flared when he'd done it then. He could start to just picture that moment and transplant it onto the desperation of their situation here; his Quirk bristling within the holes on his hands and gloves…and with another focused breath and all of his mental focus going towards the simple desire to stop whatever threat he wanted to stop going down into his hands, Nikolay finally fired a surprisingly subdued-sounding vibrating pulse from his hands that resonated across this one wall, but with none of the destructive aftereffects that typically followed, leaving his mentors and Mina all waiting with bated breath to see if his impromptu distraction strategy actually worked.
Nikolay continued to listen for that lingering vibration frequency within the walls, as well as for the now approaching footsteps in the hall outside. Once he could hear they were a decent distance away from the door, he began to focus where to finally send the expulsion of that vibration through the walls while keeping his hands and ear flush to it.
BWOOOM!
The resulting bass-burst of pure vibration suddenly sounded through the wall and nearly shook this whole room, and the moment they could all hear the collective startled shouts of their two attackers outside as they were slammed hard into the opposite wall, not only did they now know this surprising extension to Nikolay's Quirk could actually work, but now they knew it was time to move.
And so, with a mighty battle cry, De-Condenser threw his weight forward, snapping the two doors he was still holding onto right off their hinges, and immediately came charging down the hall to their left, the two further-solidified doors acting like a pair of riot shields, as the following barrage of heavy machine gun fire from Eliška began peppering both doors, but was deflecting off as though it was being fired at reinforced steel.
Within seconds, De-Condenser slammed his shields into the two Villains; Ilya using his size and rig-assisted physical strength to reinforce himself and keep the Hero from advancing further, while De-Condenser's own power prevented them from doing the same, all while keeping the doors close enough together in front of him so that Eliška couldn't hit him with one of her hair strands. For all intents and purposes, both sides were currently at a stalemate, and De-Condenser knew it as he urgently called back: "Now's your chance, you three! RUN, NOW!"
Even with their continuous desires to protest and fight to help their mentor hanging in their throats; the two interns and sidekick knew this was not the time to start acting defiant, and so with the greatest reluctance, took off running for where they knew the back exit for the fire escape was, running with everything they had.
The moment they reached the doors, Nikolay all but threw a kinetically-charged foot right into the doors, bursting them wide open…only for the trio of young Heroes to come to an instant halt when they were greeted by the distressing sight of a young woman just about Nikolay and Mina's sizes, wearing a black mask with a red cross hair upon the forehead, and standing defiantly in the doorway, staring them all down with an especially hardened look in her pink eyes.
However, with the revelation that it was indeed Pietro's soldiers that were attacking them, the sight of those pink eyes made the two interns immediately realize who they now had to fight...and that realization stabbed them both deep.
"Oh…Maja-san, why?" "Maja-chan, not you too!" Nikolay and Mina immediately cried out in heartbreak; their faces already glistening with saddened tears at the discovery of their closest friend in Gagaringrad being one of their direct attackers.
"Nightingale-kun, Pinky-kun, look sharp!" The Giver suddenly announced with exceptional urgency, prompting the two interns to immediately look back the way they had come, half-expecting at least one of the others to have slipped past De-Condenser's defense and come rushing for them…only instead to find Maja Kieslowska once again, stepping out from the doorway of one of the other rooms, still giving the same frigid and aggressive glare their way as she removed her mask.
"You two really should learn to stop falling for that trick…well, too late now, I guess." With that blood-chilling declaration, the waxy turquoise-haired girl's forearms suddenly began to run and melt before just quickly drying in the shape of a pair of especially deadly-looking blades hanging over the backs of her hands.
She had been instructed; after the confrontation in the lobby and before their ascension of the stairwell; by Eliška to go outside and enter through one of the busted in windows in order to get the drop on the Heroes, and after having gone to the trouble of setting up one of her wax decoys at every back exit of the fire escape; she was officially ready to give her all, especially as she eyed The Giver standing tall behind the two teens before her.
Nikolay, Mina and The Giver couldn't find any room in their hearts to doubt what was about to happen, there was no trying to reason with her right now. She came here to fight them with 100-percent killing intent, and they now needed to fight a girl they once called their friend just as seriously if they were going to get out of this alive. As such, The Giver began hurriedly rubbing her hands together in preparation, while Nikolay began channeling his kinetics into his hands and feet, his hands hanging just outside the handles of his larger tuning forks, and Mina began churning up two large bubbling globs of acid over both her hands, even if her eyes reflected pure reluctance to do so.
Without another moment wasted, Maja finally leapt forward with her wax blades raised overhead, but Nikolay was immediately on the defensive, throwing one flat palm strike after another once she started to swing, sending his kinetic deflective strikes straight into the flats of her blades, shattering them one after the other.
However, her control over her Quirk as she started to throw a number of jabs was masterful, as the chunks that flew quickly liquidated and began to fly in Mina's direction, forcing her to bring her acid-coated hands up in defense instead of assistance, thankfully melting the chunks away before they could hit her face.
The Giver quickly planted each of her hands on her fellow Heroes, boosting the strength of their respective Quirks before leaping back to avoid a spinning kick Maja threw her way once she swerved past another of Nikolay's punches, rolling herself over his back as she yanked him forward, using his momentum against him.
The moment Maja landed, though, Mina quickly threw the acid coatings on her hands her way, aiming to at least stop her forward charge enough to where she could be able to try to fight and take her down. Instead, the Polish girl fearlessly brought both her arms up, crossed in defense; letting Mina's acid splash right on them, melting them away down to her elbows, but her face showed no sign of pain. Unfortunately, Mina couldn't show the same resilience, looking anguished at the sight of her Quirk doing this to anyone, regardless if they were friend or foe.
Maja capitalized on this as she started throwing a number of different kicks with masterful balance, forcing The Giver to once again duck, while Mina threw herself back against the wall, using the acid on her fingers to melt one grip into the wall after another, rolling herself horizontally across the wall in order to avoid the stomping kicks Maja was planting into the wall right behind her.
Just as Maja's arms regenerated and she threw a handful of her wax, plastering one of Mina's hands to the wall and stopping her escape, Nikolay immediately stepped in with the accelerated throw of two of his smaller tuning forks; pinning one of Maja's hands and one of her feet to the wall, thus granting him and The Giver an opening to strike, just as Mina quickly melted the wax holding her hand to the wall, getting herself back into the fight.
Nikolay aimed a reverberating palm for Maja's solar plexus, hoping it would be enough to at least stun her so they could find a way to properly capture her and get back to escaping or helping De-Condenser. "Maja-san, please, snap out of it! This isn't you!"
For once, his blow actually connected with what should have been a satisfying rumble going through her entire body, but when he actually looked, his eyes went wide to find that she had actually used her Quirk to create a huge buildup of her wax over her stomach, acting as a shock absorber for his hit, before it just as quickly liquefied around his hand and kept him stuck to her. From there, she proceeded to simply melt her wrist and ankle right through his tuning forks, and then immediately met Nikolay with a devastating scissor drop kick to his shoulder joint the moment after.
As he nearly bounced off the floor and got to his knees, Mina and The Giver both rushed in together, the latter Hero using decent hand-to-hand to try and keep Maja on the retreat; but to her surprise, the girl was not backing down. If anything, she was actually ducking and swerving her way forward past any hits that actually managed to land, as though she wanted to get in close.
It was only when Mina kicked herself off the nearby wall and hooked her arms and legs around Maja's limbs, using her momentum and leverage to flip the Polish girl up and over, that she managed to get their mentor's sidekick some breathing room.
"Maja-chan, please, we're your friends! You know us!" Mina pleaded, refusing to let go, until Maja threw a well-placed elbow right into her ribs and melted her arms and legs out of her grip with ease. Upon reconstituting, she immediately met the pink girl afterwards with a melting sweeping kick that Mina barely managed to block with her arms and legs tucked back, forming herself into as much of a ball as she could, sent tumbling down the hall before Nikolay managed to grab her and stop her momentum.
"I don't need friends, especially the likes of you! Commander Pietro and my comrades are the only friends I want!" Maja spat defiantly before bringing her hands up and pulling back as though she were reeling something in, just before The Giver suddenly rushed right back in, swatting the girl's arms down and trying to throw in a precise strike for her neck; this time fighting with such ferocity, that she didn't even let her hands and feet melting right through Maja's quickly regenerating limbs stop the flow of her assault.
Instinct told Nikolay and Mina to look back at the same time as this, both fearful of just what Maja was trying to do. They were just in time to find that her wax decoy in the doorway had suddenly melted and was now flying towards them at breakneck speed, quickly forming into dried spikes. Both teens immediately brought their hands up side by side and clapped together as they aimed for the incoming projectiles: "THUNDEROUS CLAP!" "ACID SHOT!"
With expert precision in perfect synch with one another, Nikolay and Mina began firing between their individual separated fingers from their clasped hands, sending precise concussive waves and squirts of acid together, blasting and melting away all the wax projectiles Maja had sent flying their way, allowing themselves to both get right back into the fight, just in time to find Maja once again use her liquidated legs to hook around The Givers; yanking her right off her feet from underneath, ready to bring a dropping heel kick right down onto her head once she was down.
As Mina came sliding forward like a pink blur on her acid slick, Nikolay immediately channeled another subdued vibration pulse from his feet into the floor, focusing precisely on where Maja stood right now, just before that same pulse suddenly exploded out from right under her one grounded foot, for once catching Maja completely off guard and sending her crashing hard into the ceiling. The adrenaline of the whole moment, on top of the fact he now seemed to have discovered a new special move for himself, led Nikolay to go with the first words for a name that resonated in his heart as he finally began to close the distance with Mina: "DISTANT QUAKE!"
As Maja started to fall from the ceiling, Mina leapt up and tackled her to the floor, both girls rolling as Mina tried to get a subduing grip on her, but Maja's fighting instincts and Quirk control that allowed her to keep melting through the pink girl's arms made it impossible. "Maja-chan, please, we don't wanna hurt you!"
"And that's why you're all gonna die here!" Maja instantly spat once she knew she was free, immediately sweeping a melting leg for Mina's face, momentarily blinding her before the young Hero felt one of her arms and legs get plastered to the wall and floor respectively the moment after.
Just as Mina once again began to build up an acid coat to melt her way out, Maja was already summoning up more of her wax from all over the hall back to herself, letting it all build back into her body, before focusing and suddenly producing a multitude of elongated wax spikes all over her limbs and torso. "You idiots aren't getting in our way anymore!"
At the very moment she began to charge Mina, though; another resonating boom echoed down the hall, and Maja glanced back Nikolay's way to find the boy flying right for her with both his larger tuning forks drawn, ricocheting and launching himself from wall to ceiling and back in a huge corkscrew motion, swinging both his weapons right into her side as she began to turn; shooting all of the kinetic power he had been building up in them right into her body. This sent Maja crashing out of control all across the hall just like he had; her spikes shattering practically into dust before she came to a stop just behind where De-Condenser was still trying to hold her comrades back.
Nikolay had to fight the pain in his forearms once he looked and saw the several bleeding puncture wounds her spikes had stabbed into them when he'd stricken her with his tuning forks. As he and The Giver hurriedly rejoined Mina once she'd gotten herself free, they all had their eyes on Maja, who was already starting to get up, visibly bleeding from the mouth this time.
"Kolya-kun, watching how Maja-chan's been using her Quirk, I don't think she's able to melt or transform her head." Mina hurriedly pointed out, with the young Russian nodding in agreement. "I think you're right. That has to be her weak spot then. If we can hit her there hard enough to knock her out, we could be able to stop this and break Pietro's hold on her."
"That's assuming she's going to let any of us get close enough for that." The Giver noted, as Maja was already getting back on her feet, staring all three of them down; her hands once again starting to melt and build up into what were starting to look like spiked balls, almost like flails.
"Maja-san's fast…but she can't be fast enough to take us all on at once, especially in cramped quarters like this." Nikolay resolved, and as if on cue, he and Mina once again charged forward side by side, leaping and sliding over and under Maja's immediate countering strikes on pure reflex, both managing to get behind her as her momentum had brought her forward, leaving a trail of further melted wax behind her.
STAB!
Just as Nikolay and Mina had both come to a stop and were already redirecting themselves on their same momentum to get Maja from behind, that same trail of wax in her wake suddenly jolted out into further small spikes, a few actually managing to stab through the sole of Mina's right boot and puncturing her foot, earning a piercing yelp of pain in response from her, while Nikolay immediately looked back her way in immense worry while still flying for Maja's back.
The Giver similarly tried rushing Maja from the front, just as the Polish soldier started to turn back to face Nikolay. However, she managed to grab The Giver's flying kick with her right hand, and deflected Nikolay's foot with her left, leaving the young Russian Hero momentarily stuck in mid-air as their eyes met. For once, Maja could see nothing but emotional pain and anger reflected in the boy's green eyes after seeing her hurt his best friend; even if Mina was still somehow on her feet and trying to stand tough.
BWOOM!
Nikolay immediately let out another resonating blast from the foot still clutched in Maja's hand, sending a reverberation so powerful that it actually caused the arm she was starting to liquidate in order to better grasp him, to burst in a mess all over the hall; sending Maja twirling back in shock and forcing her to let go of The Giver as well.
Nikolay was already once more on the warpath as he began to charge at her again, but Maja was just as quick to react, commanding all of the splattered wax to come rushing back to her in a last-second form of defense. If she could block him here, then she would be able to skewer him for good.
"ACID VEIL!"
The moment all of Maja's wax had built up into a thin defensive wall between herself and Nikolay, and she began to command it to form into spikes for him to charge into; Mina came sliding in right beside him again, producing her healing salve for herself through her own injured foot, and thus putting herself right back into the fight, just soon enough to throw a sheet of acid of her own right in front of Nikolay as he came to a complete stop, causing Maja's spikes to drive right into the momentary wall of liquid and melt into nothing at the touch.
"ACID WAVE!"
Nikolay declared this as he immediately followed up by bringing his hands together and firing a concentrated blast straight into the Acid Veil, sending it splashing forward right through Maja's wall, forcing her to retreat far back in order to avoid the devastating attack, and catching her off guard just enough for The Giver to close the distance outside her line of sight and finally land a precise and devastating blow to her solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of Maja, leaving herself completely exposed as she hunched over.
"C'mon, we can still end this! I'm sorry, Maja-san, but this is for your own good!" Nikolay declared to his allies and their enemy all together as he quickly began to launch himself forward into a Resonating Wheel attack, both his tuning forks held at his sides as he began to fly in a rolling formation right for her.
"KOLYA-KUN, LOOK OUT!" Mina immediately screamed before sliding right in and grabbing him by the back of his collar, nearly gagging him as she yanked back hard, reeling Nikolay back just as the crack of a rifle shot suddenly pierced the air, and a single bullet came zipping right through the open doorway he had just been about to cross in order to close the distance to Maja.
Noting this, The Giver begrudgingly noted: "Looks like their sniper's not out of the fight after all."
However, neither of the two interns were about to let that stop them, as with a single communicative glance to one another, they knew they were already on the same page. Mina immediately slid around to Nikolay's left and quickly threw another Acid Veil over the doorway, allowing him to once more launch himself forward, only for the next sniper round to melt harmlessly against Mina's protection, with her sliding right in tandem alongside him once more.
At the same time as all of this fighting was going on right behind him, De-Condenser was still managing to hold his own with his door shields against the two other assailants, but he knew he needed to end this fight as quickly as possible, otherwise they could be bound for disaster, especially now that he knew his sidekick and interns were in a battle of their own.
As such, timing his actions perfectly, he proceeded to plant his density-absorbing hand against one of the doors, taking it in to reinforce his body, and thus allowing said door to get knocked aside by Ilya once he tried to charge through with his mass once more. His momentum caused him to come tumbling face first into the ground just behind De-Condenser, who proceeded to then use that momentary distraction to flip his remaining reinforced door shield up, before then throwing it like a javelin right for Eliška, who immediately had to duck to avoid getting nailed right in the face with extreme force.
It didn't take long after this for Ilya to quickly get back on the offensive, drawing his pistol with his last remaining bullets, and opening fire now that De-Condenser had thrown away his shields. However, a precise stomp to the ground on the corner of the door he'd taken his advanced density from, allowed De-Condenser to use it as a last minute cover, even if the last of the bullets ultimately managed to finally break through and hit him in his right side.
It was fortunate planning on his part, then, to take away the extra density from the last door just before he'd thrown it, thus allowing himself to have the density of both his advanced doors together, giving him much better protection against their rounds on his own, even if they did still hit and hurt like hell in the process.
It quickly became apparent that they had just used up the last of their ammunition for nothing, as soon Eliška and Ilya together tried to rush De-Condenser, but his improved physical defense, one remaining door shield and his martial skills proved to give him a further advantage, even if their combined assault was ultimately forcing him further and further back down the hall towards his three fellow Heroes, still in the middle of dealing with Maja themselves.
Over the last minute, Maja was continuing to fight back with everything she could churn up with her wax at a second's notice, ignoring Nikolay and Mina's continued pleas to try and get through to her, and keeping them from being able to land a clean hit on her head.
All the while, though; the three young Heroes were refusing to back down, even when it became apparent that De-Condenser's fight was starting to force him back their way as well, giving them less and less maneuverability in this part of the hall. Thankfully, Mina's protective instincts were helping her stay close to her two partners, and always remembering to throw another Acid Veil over every open doorway they passed, each one melting another of the sniper's bullets without fail.
At one point in the middle of the fighting; while Nikolay was using his tuning forks to block another downward blade strike Maja was trying to cleave his head with (with The Giver's help adding to his Quirk's reverberation strength); Mina chanced a momentary glance just in time to see an opening in De-Condenser's clustered fight had allowed Eliška an open shot right at her and her friends.
It was a shot she was already visibly in the middle of taking, as she flicked a finger and threw one of her hair strands right at them, only for Mina to manage to throw another Acid Veil in protection just in the nick of time, but costing her the chance to do so just as Nikolay had ended up getting kicked back by Maja right into view of another of the open doorways.
K-KRAK!
The next sniper shot ended up impacting right against one of Nikolay's tuning forks, shattering it at the handle and leaving him now with only one to work with, but still somehow finding the environmental awareness to use his instinctive knocking onto the ground to his advantage, as the moment he landed on his back, he immediately reeled his legs back and fired a huge kinetic burst from his feet, sending Maja flying back and ricocheting off the ceiling and wall again.
However, Maja miraculously managed to find her bearings and land on her feet and hands this time, even if her whole body was aching and her head was ringing. She was just as quick to retaliate, as she suddenly threw herself into a spinning handstand, sending a spray of wax from her free arm and both legs, trapping The Giver against the wall, and Nikolay against the floor, still in full view of the open doorway.
K-KRAK!
Mina took off like a shot, immediately throwing another Acid Veil in front of the door for protection for Nikolay, as she began sliding right for Maja; her heart burning with anxiousness to end this fight, and sadness still at having to do this to a friend. "I'm sorry, Maja-chan!"
Mirroring exactly what Maja had just done to trap Nikolay, Mina immediately threw herself right into one of her fastest breakdance spinning maneuvers she'd done yet, twisting and twirling her body across the floor with exceptional grace and control every step of the way, and sending one spurt of acid after another of varying corrosive power, allowing her to both cast Maja's hands and feet together and to the floor respectively, and ultimately melting her limbs away; leaving her collapsed on the ground. Mina finally rolled back onto her feet and shot a continuous stream of her thickest but least corrosive acid from between her hands, practically cocooning her opponent to the floor everywhere except her head.
K-KRAK!
In the one second this had taken, Mina suddenly heard another rifle shot, and instinctively looked back to make sure Nikolay had managed to break himself free and get out of the way of the door, even if her Acid Veil still should have been standing for another second longer. To hers and The Giver's relief, he had managed to break himself free, but he hadn't managed to get out of the way in time before the bullet drove right into her Acid Veil.
KABOOM!
Without warning, the bullet, instead of dissolving immediately like all the others, exploded upon impact, blasting a massive hole in the side of the whole building, causing the whole thing to start shaking and crumbling even more than it already was; and even worse, causing Mina's Acid Veil to come splashing in its full remaining power right in Nikolay's direction. The power and sound of the explosion didn't even register to Mina as she instinctively screamed in horrified realization that their sniper was actually using her protective technique against them, against her closest friend of all.
"KOLYA-KUN!"
However, Nikolay's own sense of timing had managed to save himself just in the nick of time, as the moment he had gotten back to his feet and heard the rifle crack, his instincts had driven him to launch himself out of the way of the doorway, even if Mina's Acid Veil was still in place to protect him from getting shot.
As a result, even as Mina was momentarily blinded with horrified panic, Nikolay had managed to get himself out of the way of the brunt of her exploding Acid Veil just in time, even if some of the spray did still manage to end up burning through his left boot and most of his left pant leg and sleeve as a result, but thankfully having lost enough of their corrosive strength by then to only leave minor tingling red marks on his leg and arm.
In the wake of the explosion, since Maja was still momentarily immobilized, Mina practically tackled Nikolay, hyperventilating with panic as soon as she saw the boy was actually still standing. "Oh my God, Kolya-kun; are you okay?! I was so scared, I—oh God! Oh, no, I'm so sorry!" The moment she saw the unmistakable chemical burns that had eaten away at portions of his costume and left red marks on his skin, Mina's eyes were like waterfalls of inconsolable regret, even as Nikolay hurriedly tried to grab her shoulders and make her look him in the eye.
"Mina, Mina, look at me! Its okay, I'm okay! We didn't know they still had explosive bullets, this isn't your fault! We just need to be more careful!" As he kept trying to reassure her of this, The Giver was at that point looking nervously back and forth between De-Condenser's ongoing fight mere feet away from them, and then back to Maja, who by now had recollected herself, and was now using her Quirk to project spikes to break through Mina's restraints on her body and get free again to continue the fight. "You guys, maybe save the reassurances for when we get out of here?"
Thankfully, the real danger of their situation was not lost on Nikolay and Mina either, as once she was able to get her remorseful tears out of her eyes and finally get herself pumped for action again alongside him, she and the young Russian quickly got back into their fighting stances. Now effectively trapped on three sides instead of two, and with Mina no longer able to risk using her Acid Veil in light of their sniper's latest trick, their options on how to subdue Maja, let alone escape, were looking progressively slim.
Down in the first sub-level, the ringing in Kyouka's head had finally managed to stop, as her eyes tried to adjust to the realization that she, her mentor and their two unconscious opponents were still momentarily safe inside the elevator from the explosion, but by now she could also tell from how badly the doors were warped from the blast, that they were now also trapped. On top of that, she could quickly tell it was getting especially more difficult to breathe, as she could smell smoke starting to come in through the damaged doors.
"We're in a real tight spot now, Jirou-kun. It's not exactly like we can just ride this thing up to safety this time." Blast Beat muttered before coughing harshly from the smoke; while Kyouka was trying to keep a level head, taking in their surroundings.
"I know, Sensei. But if this elevator had a trap door for the ground, it should have the same for the roof; any elevator would have that in case of a power outage, surely." Following her intuition, she managed to get back onto her feet and began feeling around the ceiling of the elevator, before her fingertips finally touched the blessed cool metal of a door handle.
Taking a moment to plug her earphone jacks into the ceiling to make sure nothing was going to come crashing down onto them, or that there wasn't already rubble weighing the door down, she let out a sigh of relief. "Well, it looks like we can still get out this way, at least."
However, the reminder of a trap door on the floor of the elevator forced Kyouka to come to an immediate stop, as a jolt of fearful remembrance came back to her. "Wait…Linguist-san! We can't just leave him down there, Sensei!"
Another painful hacking cough from Blast Beat was her initial answer. "I know…I could hear that rumbling and groaning for the last couple of minutes while you were trying to get your senses back. The whole building's been destabilized from that explosion. If we leave Linguist-san down in that panic room, he's either going to get buried underneath when the whole thing finally collapses…or he's going to suffocate from smoke inhalation. The ventilation system is directly connected to that of the building as a whole…an architectural oversight on Chiaroscuro-san's part, admittedly."
Kyouka wasted no time as she once more pulled the elevator carpet aside and pulled the trap door open, immediately spotting the very same panic room door just before her at the bottom of the shaft, with this floor thankfully being the furthest the elevator went.
With her heart racing with growing urgency, the short-haired girl quickly descended down through the trap door to that of the panic room, plugging her jacks into the ground to listen for the relieving sound of Leonid's heartbeat still inside, before giving a resounding set of knocks to the door, all the while hoping the man would be able to hear her voice from inside. "Linguist-san, it's Jirou Kyouka, Blast Beat-sensei's intern! Can you hear me in there?"
At first, she couldn't hear anything, which left Kyouka feeling especially worried that the old man had passed out from his gunshot wound again. There was no telling how much time they had left before the building would come down, and there was no way in hell she was about to leave him down here, let alone her classmates and all their mentors, assuming they were all most likely still inside trying to neutralize all their attackers.
"Yes…yes, I can hear you." The sound of Leonid finally answering her left Kyouka breathing a sigh of immense relief before she immediately got back into serious mode: "I know we told you to stay down here, but things have changed big time! We've managed to capture two of the people attacking us, but the backup generator got blown up, and the building's going to end up collapsing before long! We need to get you out of here and get somewhere safe!"
However, her words were not being ignored by Blast Beat either, as she could hear him calling down from within the elevator above: "Jirou-kun, even if we manage to get back to the ground floor, we still have our enemies' sniper to worry about as well…unless we were to use the back exits to slip out through the back alley. There's only one way in and out that direction, and it's pretty well hidden."
Kyouka breathed a sigh of relief, especially as her explanation had thankfully proven enough to convince Leonid to open the panic room door and climb his way out, even despite his treated injuries. "Alright…lead the way, you two. Anything I can do to help, just ask."
With that, Kyouka and Leonid climbed their way back into the elevator, and upon seeing the two unconscious invaders inside, Leonid proceeded to follow and assist Kyouka and Blast Beat in hauling their two charges through the door in the elevator ceiling. From there, the two music-based Heroes led the charge up the emergency ladder in the elevator shaft to the ground floor, with a Capturing Line from one of Blast Beat's bullet belt gadgets keeping Anatoly and Hristofor harnessed to his and his intern's backs, with Leonid managing to keep up with them up the ladder.
"You're absolutely sure about these back exits, Sensei?" Kyouka instinctively asked once they'd finally reached the elevator doors to the first floor, stabbing her jacks into them and sending a power pulse that blasted them outwards, granting all three of them a way out into the still smoke-filled lobby.
"We all know this area better than the backs of our hands, Jirou-kun. It's probably the one exit out of here where you won't be in immediate danger of being pinned by sniper fire." Blast Beat reassured her as they helped Leonid through the elevator doors and momentarily helped him to rest against one of the walls.
While they were all struggling to catch their breath from wounds and exertion alike, Kyouka could immediately hear the sound of immense fighting and punctuating gunfire coming from up above. In fact, all three of them could, as Blast Beat finally asked: What're you thinking of doing, Jirou-kun? The aura you're giving off right now is not one of looking for a safe place to hide.
Kyouka's fingerless glove-adorned hands were already clenching into fists as her face grimaced with anxious tension. "The others…my friends, they need help, I can just feel it. But I can't risk either of you getting hurt going up there."
"Then I think the solution is quite obvious." Leonid suddenly answered, spurring Kyouka into looking back in momentary confusion, only to see the old man get helped to his feet; his arm hoisted over Blast Beat's shoulders, as the Jukebox Hero gave the young girl a reassuring and confident smile. "Go to them and give Pietro's soldiers hell, Earphone Jack-kun. I'll help get Linguist-san and our 'friends' to safety, don't you worry."
However, at this point, Leonid began to raise an objecting hand. "If you're going to go, I should at least give you an idea what kind of Quirks you could be dealing with—
"It's okay, Linguist-san. Believe it or not, Kolya-san and Mina-chan actually told me all about these people's Quirks after their first day here. I at least have that much going for me." Kyouka stated with a semi-forced air of confidence to go with the nervous smirk on her face. Seeing this, however, Blast Beat likewise lifted an objecting hand.
"Jirou-kun…wait." Kyouka was already about to try and argue with her mentor telling her to stay back after havig just given her the go-ahead; but instead, she was met with the sight of him unbuckling his bullet belt from his waist and handing it to her. "Take this with you at least. There's a whole assortment of different things they can do…but they should all be able to help you when you need it."
Kyouka's expression showed just how deeply moved she was; knowing now that her mentor was already trusting her with his personal gadgets. However, she knew this was far from the time to get emotional, and so it was with a deeply grateful gleam in her onyx eyes and an accepting nod, that she took the belt into her hands, slung it over her right shoulder, and with a drive of absolute courage burning bright in her heart, she proceeded up the stairwell to aid the others, while Blast Beat just as hurriedly began making his way for the back exit with Leonid in tow.
Back on the fourth floor, neither of the fights was going any smoother than they already had. In fact, they were starting to get progressively more desperate, thanks to the continuous assault from all around starting to whittle away at De-Condenser's built up mass reinforcement, and the outside sniper's continuous pot shots forcing his interns and sidekick to this one confined section of the hall to fight Maja in, since Mina could no longer use her Acid Veils without risk of one getting hit with another explosive bullet, and sending the splash back right into her friends' faces.
And that confinement was already starting to truly take its toll, for no matter how practiced and naturally in synch Nikolay and Mina's reflexes were with one another in terms of avoiding Maja's attacks or trying to get on her blind sides; it still wasn't enough to keep either one of them from suffering some considerable nicks and cuts from her last-second wax blade attacks. This time, Mina couldn't even spare the few seconds to build up her healing salve to attend to the cuts on her arms and legs, let alone Nikolay's and The Giver's; thus leaving herself and her friends to have to suffer their respective bleeding in order to keep each other covered.
After another carefully timed dual attack (namely The Giver's lightning-fast melee strikes forcing Maja against a wall, allowing for Mina to quickly stick her hands to it with some from-the-hip, sap-like acid shots from her palms; culminating in another of Nikolay's Distant Quake attacks channeled into that same wall finally erupting from behind Maja's back and sending her flying face first into the opposite wall); there at last seemed to be the perfect opening for any one of the three Heroes to finally close in and give Maja the blow to the head they needed to knock her out for the count.
Unfortunately, in the same moment that Nikolay and The Giver used their closer proximity to Maja to close in on her; De-Condenser's own fight had once again taken him and Ilya out of the middle of the hallways just long enough for Eliška to finally seize the advantage and take a split-second shot at the two younger Heroes, flicking another strand of her hair their way, and breaking their momentum with their total confusion as they both came to a screeching halt to avoid getting hit; thus allowing Maja the chance to recover and send them both reeling back with another pair of swift and punishing kicks to their midsections.
Mina was just as quick to try and intercept with another acid-coated fist, but this time Maja met her head on, clutching onto it with her left hand without hesitation, allowing Mina's Quirk to melt her left arm down to her elbow, bringing the shocked pink girl close enough thanks to her own momentum, for Maja to immediately meet her with a devastating head-butt to her forehead, leaving Mina completely stunned long enough for her opponent to practically stomp her right back into the wall.
The moment she did this, she immediately made her move for The Giver, still visibly reeling from the blow to her stomach; just enough for Maja to officially nail her with a precise blow to her own shoulder and neck joint, causing her whole body to go limp and collapse, only for Maja to catch her and bring one of her arms over her shoulders. [[We got what we came for, now let's hurry and get the hell out of here!]]
"GIVER-SENSEI!" Nikolay immediately shouted, with Mina not far behind once they'd both regained their senses and realized what was happening to their mentor's sidekick. Nikolay was already trying to launch himself by his hands and feet across the hall in order to catch Maja on her undefended side, while Mina was likewise starting to move in to intercept.
At the same time, further down the hall, while still trying to restrain or fight back against Ilya while the musclebound man's body was now being controlled by Eliška's Quirk; De-Condenser heard Maja's call to her comrades and his interns' subsequent cries of distress. When he looked back to see his sidekick being carried away, every remaining ounce of his energy ignited like phosphorous in the bloodstream. "ERUMI-CHAN!"
With his adrenaline surging like mad, De-Condenser channeled all his physical strength that he could into throwing Ilya away from himself so he could try to rush Maja and get his sidekick out of her grasp. Even Nikolay and Mina could already just tell their mentor was about to come charging like a freight train, and he was prepared to do just that, especially since Eliška and Ilya had both run out of bullets by now; his temporary improved density having rendered them virtually useless. Of course, he knew he wasn't at that level anymore, but if he could just close the distance between himself and Maja in just those few more seconds, it would surely be enough for him to get The Giver out of harm's way.
THPT!
Unfortunately, in his momentary blind panic at the sight of his sidekick being taken away, he'd ended up leaving the back of his neck open just enough for Eliška to finally put her Quirk to the use she really wanted, forcing De-Condenser to stop dead in his tracks, and instead start directing his aggressive charge towards Nikolay and Mina themselves.
Her complete physical control over him prevented him from even being able to warn them of what was happening; but thankfully, a momentary alerted glance past his charging form to see just what the woman herself was doing, had thankfully managed to warn the two just in time, as Nikolay launched himself towards Mina, grabbing her and launching them both off the opposite wall and further down the hall towards the retreating Maja, away from the devastating downward punch Eliška forced De-Condenser to throw their way, leaving a massive crater in the floor as a result. The impact caused the building to start groaning and tilting just the tiniest bit more, finally starting to effect the stance of everyone inside in order to try and maintain balance.
"EARPHONE JACKS' STRIKE!"
Just before Eliška could further control De-Condenser to keep attacking his interns; the sound of an unfamiliar young girl's voice, followed by a piercing and overwhelming high-pitched blast, shook the entire hallway and left both of the assailants reeling and clutching their heads to try and make the pain in their heads stop. However, for Nikolay, Mina and the now freed De-Condenser, this was a miracle that couldn't have come at a better time, recognizing the sound of Kyouka's voice without question.
The punk rock-dressed young Hero had managed to make her way to the top floor just in the nick of time, and she could tell this just from the state of the hall, and just what it looked like was about to happen to her friends, thanks to the woman she could only naturally assume was the one with the Puppeteer Quirk.
While Eliška and Ilya were both still trying to recover, the especially burly man looked to be the one to ride it out the quickest, as Kyouka's alertness allowed her to see he was already starting to drive his sheer physical rage at whoever was dumb enough to intrude on them. Of course, Nikolay and Mina both shouting for her to look out was a big help as well.
Thankfully, her own mentor's advice and gift was already proving its immense worth, as Kyouka had gone for the first of the bullet-shaped gadgets on Blast Beat's belt her fingers could reach, and without even checking to see what kind it was (if she would have been able to tell from the single letter engravings on their casings to begin with), she turned the end of it until there was a resounding click, and hurriedly threw it Ilya's way.
Upon impact, a huge surge of electrical bolts immediately burst forth from it, encapsulating Ilya's whole body, only amplified by the metallic rig around his torso and limbs, and sending him into uncontrollable spasms, before ultimately bringing him to collapse in complete unconsciousness like a human oak tree. Right now, Kyouka and her classmates couldn't have been more grateful that she had managed to grab the taser gadget on her first try.
[[YOU LITTLE BITCH!]] Eliška immediately roared the moment she realized what Kyouka had just done to her pawn, rushing in and trying to nail her with her own CQC, but the young girl's own hyper-awareness was at an all-time high, as she too began dodging, weaving and throwing jabs of her own with her fists, feet and earphone jacks, keeping the young Czech woman on her toes, and even having the reaction time to send several pulsing bursts into the walls around her; preventing her from using her Quirk on Kyouka herself.
Unfortunately, the female soldier's attentiveness was like that of a hawk as she and Kyouka kept exchanging blows; keeping her eyes open for the very first sign of an opening in her smaller opponent's defenses. The moment she saw it, she immediately capitalized; throwing a swift and devastating set of knuckles into Kyouka's gut, leaving her breathless and wretching from the impact; thus providing Eliška with another perfect opportunity in just that short handful of seconds; plucking another strand of her hair and flicking it back down the hall towards De-Condenser; whom in his continued pursuit of Maja, had foolishly once more had his back turned to her.
THPT!
"Oh, no! Nightingale-kun, Pinky-kun! Get out of here!" This time, there was just enough time for De-Condenser to realize his mistake in thinking Kyouka's intervention had bought them enough time once he felt another jab of her hairs get him in the back, giving warning to his interns just in time before he felt all control leave his body again.
[[You're not getting in the way anymore!]] Eliška exclaimed as she immediately threw De-Condenser into another savage charge for Nikolay and Mina; the Russian boy just barely managing to launch himself backwards while Mina ducked into a blindingly fast roll underneath his swinging arm, before throwing herself into a forward leap and hand spring to avoid his leg sweeping back at her once she'd gotten behind him.
However, Eliška was more than ready to act herself in the wake of this, as she already had her free hand plucking another hair and aiming it right at Mina's head just as soon as she was back on her feet.
The moment she flicked it toward her, though; Mina could see it just clearly enough to know she was right in the open and in grave danger, and thus immediately let her legs go slack, letting her body fall to its knees as she turned herself to her left at the waist, immediately bringing her flat hands together and meeting the Czech Villain's attack in kind: "ACID SHOT!"
Eliška's momentary handling of her control on De-Condenser in that spare moment was stopped the moment she realized there was now a concentrated stream of acid shooting down the hall right for her. Thus she instinctively leaped back in panic, inadvertently landing herself just where Mina had hoped she would, as Kyouka had finally regained her breath, and was already more than ready to retaliate.
Eliška realized this as well, but without another spare hair strand in her hands to fight back with, she was unable to stop the purple-haired young Hero from planting both her earphone jacks directly into her head; giving her a full double dose of a powerful pulse that left the young Czech soldier collapsed to the floor in total unconsciousness as a result of the force shaking her brain and body as a whole.
At the same time as those few seconds, Nikolay had similarly taken immediate action now that he was on his own against the controlled De-Condenser. Ricocheting from wall to wall to ceiling, he was barely managing to avoid his mentor's insanely fast physical blows by the skin of his teeth, but he knew that stopping Maja from escaping with The Giver was even more important, and so a desperate plan already began cooking in his head the further back he was being pushed.
'Sensei's Density Quirk…its effects can't possibly be permanent until he chooses to dispense it onto something else. Even controlled, he's starting to look winded. If I can somehow get him to send what little of his stored density he has left into something else…it might just be enough!'
Judging his current position in the hall relative to the position De-Condenser was currently in, and the fist he was already throwing his way, it all started to fall into place, exactly what Nikolay had to do.
As such, the moment he launched himself backwards to his right, planting his feet and free right hand to the wall, De-Condenser immediately followed in kind with an instant swing of his right hand, currently open as though to snatch the boy right out of the air and wring his neck.
And this was exactly what Nikolay was hoping for, as instead of launching himself again, he instead chose that moment to throw his one remaining large tuning fork right into De-Condenser's open hand; muscle instinct driving the man to immediately grasp onto it; the properties of his Quirk (and Eliška's lack of knowledge as to how it specifically worked) causing him to inadvertently send the remainder of his advanced density still in his body right into the trembling metal object itself.
In his mind, De-Condenser realized what Nikolay was doing, and was both grateful and proud of the boy's quick thinking. As for Eliška, though; she had no idea what the boy was doing, and thus went with her first instinct before Mina's subsequent counterattack, which was to use the otherwise meaningless tool to plant the bothersome boy into the ground.
The moment she forced De-Condenser to raise the tuning fork up to practically impale Nikolay to the ground, raising it over his head; the Russian boy let himself fall to the ground on his feet, and thus finally counteract by jumping up by his feet, grabbing the middle of the U-shaped end, and sending another timely kinetic blast from both his hands directly into it and behind his back in order to stabilize himself in the air, launching the tuning fork with enough force to send its handle stabbing into the ceiling; forcing De-Condenser's right arm up with it as he still had a white-knuckled grip on its actual handle.
This momentary opening of his defenses ultimately gave Nikolay all the opportunity he'd been hoping for, as he immediately fired another propelling blast from his waiting right foot, launching his right leg into a flying roundhouse kick that drove straight into De-Condenser's now normal head; hitting his mentor with more than enough force to leave him completely knocked out cold, as he finally collapsed to the floor like a pile of bricks.
Nikolay ultimately pried his last tuning fork out of the ceiling as he returned to the ground, wasting no time upon touching the ground before once more launching it with another kinetic-assisted throw, miraculously managing to nail it into the wall directly around Maja's midsection, not only completely pinning her to the wall snugly, with no way to actually melt her torso through it and get free; but also knocking every ounce of wind out of her in the process; leaving her whole body slack as she heaved for air.
The young Russian Hero was now eyeing the unconscious Eliška at the opposite end of the hall, while Mina and Kyouka were both once more on their feet, looking up and down the hall to take in the aftermath of this insane multi-fronted battle they'd just come out the winners of. And upon looking at the bullet belt from Blast Beat still hanging over Kyouka's shoulders; neither of her two classmates had any doubt that she'd effectively been the one to save the day for them all today.
BKOOOM! GRRRRMBL! GRRRROAN!
Another sudden deafening explosion from down below in the basement levels, followed by the sound of support beams and girders warping, bending and ultimately snapping, sent the whole building rumbling, crumbling and tilting further and further from under everyone's feet, causing them all to start stumbling and falling as the center of gravity to the whole building was now irreparably skewed.
As the furniture and debris all began to slide faster and faster, and everyone could feel their equilibrium continuously shift beyond their ability to control, it was undeniable what was finally happening: the Kapenta Hero Agency building was finally on the fast track to collapsing, and with Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka all judging their position within the building and the direction they could all feel it beginning to fall, they all instinctively knew there were at most a handful of civilian buildings in its direct path that were now in serious danger.
As soon as they could see through the windows the angle at which the building was already starting to fall with them in it, the three students could all feel a sickening twisting in their stomachs; their Heroes' instincts to get out and try to get as many civilians out of the way as possible in what little time they had, directly conflicting with their deep emotional desires to try and get each other out, or at the very least hold each other before the devastation that was to come. The looks in their eyes as they momentarily locked gazes in that one moment told each other just as much.
However, that was when something truly incredible happened: the increasing free fall of the building came to a sudden stop, once again knocking everyone inside down to the ground, and sending those unconscious rolling about in complete listlessness. This was something none of them expected, as Nikolay's immediate response when he could no longer feel the increasing sensation of gravity revealed: "What the hell?"
Outside, having recovered the strength to rush out and do this incredible deed, High Noon had come rushing out of the alleyway the moment she realized the Kapenta building was finally starting to fall, and just where it was going to land. She knew that, even at her best, her Quirk's physical strength still wouldn't be able to hold up something like an entire building by its shadow for long enough, especially when in a state like this.
Hence, it was time for her to finally use her own special move, as with the sun directly behind her back and thus extending her shadow forward to where it could touch the edge of the shadow of the collapsing building, she put all of her focus and energy into her Quirk as she could on such nonexistent notice, and ultimately began to split her shadow into six different copies of itself, all standing at different angles side by side, as though there were multiple different light sources at just as many different angles shining behind her right now.
"SHADOW…SPLIT!"
With each of these shadows of hers that split at the base all touching the shadow of the building, High Noon now knew she had enough of the added physical strength to at least do the little bit she could to either save the civilians in the endangered buildings, or at least buy them enough time to get out of the way, as she began to clutch her hands and physically push with everything she herself had.
She was actually attempting to try and nudge her collapsing Agency headquarters' falling trajectory just enough to where it would at least be able to land somewhere that wouldn't endanger civilian lives, all through manipulating it by its shadow.
She knew that if she could at least redirect the building's trajectory to where it would land in the sizeable canal that ran at one of its sides, effectively splitting Arakisu City in half, then that would be more than enough. Anyone outside in that moment who saw this would have undoubtedly called it one of the single most awe-inspiring displays of Heroism to be seen carried out by one single Pro Hero entirely on their own.
"EVERYONE…GET OUT NOW! I CAN'T…HOLD OR PUSH…IT FOR MUCH…LONGER!"
At the same time as she was screaming this to her friends and their interns inside, High Noon was too focused to realize that, on the nearby rooftop at the next side of where their building had once been facing, Angel's Eye had resigned himself to having to aim with both his eyes closed, like he had been for the last several minutes, since Chiaroscuro's Kaleido-Vision special move was still working its effect on his eyesight relentlessly. The loss of that vital sense of his was the one thing keeping him from putting High Noon down right then and there.
His sensitivity in listening for noise from inside the building's busted in window shutters in order to judge his shots, and even what kinds of his rounds to use, had been proving effective thus far; and even now, all he could rely on was listening to the angle from which he could hear High Noon's voice coming from. It was hardly ideal, but he knew his sense of aim was still true enough that he would at least be able to shoot her somewhere that would allow her to bleed out.
His ears were so focused on listening for her voice as he began pacing his breathing and trying to feel for the speed and direction of the wind around him while getting his finger on the trigger; that the sharpshooter had actually failed to notice that in this time, someone had managed to pinpoint where his shots had been coming from just the same as Chiaroscuro had mere minutes ago, while he'd been trying to pin down the Heroes on the fourth floor.
It wasn't until his unknown intruder was practically right on top of him, that Angel's Eye's natural animal alertness finally made him realize he wasn't alone. But just as he began to roll onto his back, pull out his pistol and open fire, he was swiftly knocked out cold by a well-placed strike to the side of his head, courtesy of a determined-looking Blast Beat, who had managed to find and follow Chiaroscuro's blood trail outside, thus finding her and High Noon; as well as a place to keep Leonid, Anatoly and Hristofor safely before dealing with their sniper problem at last.
[[Affected by Pietro's Quirk, whatever it is, or not…let's see you take cheap shots at those trying to save lives now, you scum!]] With Angel's Eye now out of the way, there was no one to actually control the remote sniper rifle either, although Blast Beat had no idea of this. As far as he was concerned, he'd just hopefully made things much easier for his fellow Heroes, and especially for High Noon, whom by now had finally managed to successfully redirect the building by its shadow to collapse into the canal below.
BKOOM!
Inside the fourth floor of the building, as it had continued to detach, fall apart and tilt while being redirected; numerous sparks had started to fly from all the ruptured wiring and electronics, inevitably making contact with one of the numerous gas leaks from the ruptured gas line on that floor; triggering another deafening explosion that nearly broke High Noon's concentration just before she was finally able to let go of her grasp upon the building's shadow.
Inside the hall, once she was able to see the incoming disaster from the leaking gas and the multitude of sparks, Kyouka finally took off into a mad dash down the hall for Nikolay and Mina; but not before using the Capture Line from two more of the bullet belt gadgets, as well as her own earphone jacks, to wrangle around the unconscious Eliška and Ilya so they could be pulled out along with herself.
With the building now at an angle just before it was finally going into free fall; Mina and her classmates' hearts were all racing as she instinctively grabbed Nikolay by his left sleeve, pulling him in close and then throwing them both into a mad leap for Kyouka, as the purple-haired girl sprung herself off the edge of a doorway, reaching out for Mina's free hand and clasping on with everything she had.
With nothing but gravity to come now that the building was plummeting, Mina held onto Nikolay and Kyouka for all she was worth while also focusing her Quirk through her feet, jumping up and backwards alongside the two as she projected a sheen of full-strength acid through her boots, melting through the walls that now served as the floor; creating a hole leading directly down to the street below. "HANG ON TIGHT!"
The moment before the explosion, Nikolay likewise began to act to get De-Condenser, the barely still conscious Maja and The Giver out alongside them; as he quickly grabbed two spools of his capturing cords from his belt and lassoed them around De-Condenser and Maja's arms, to her visible disbelief as he pried his last large tuning fork out of the wall from around her midsection.
BKOOOM!
Then the explosions all finally began to go off up and down the hall, forcing Mina to finally jump through the hole with her classmates still clutched tight in her arms, and their respective tethering managing to pull De-Condenser, Maja, The Giver, Eliška and Ilya out along with them. However, at the last fraction of a second, another explosion at the farthest end of the hall went off right behind Maja as she began to get pulled along; sending her flying forward with The Giver's unconscious body still in tow, and ultimately smashing into another of the walls on her way down with them, ultimately knocking the Polish girl out cold.
The split second after the three young Heroes and their tethered rescues had managed to fall out through the face of the Kapenta building as it continued to fall for the canal and streets below, Nikolay instantly acted fast, directing his feet and firing through them with absolutely everything he had in order to compensate for the added dead weight, in order to propel all of them backwards (from his perspective) as fast as possible so they could get out of the trajectory of the collapse. All three students were screaming in panic at the very moment his quick reactions had managed to slip them out from under the collapse in just enough time before it all finally came crashing down in a deafening cacophony of destruction; the whole building disintegrating into nothing but stone and steel rubble as it filled the two streets on both sides, and the canal itself.
The sheer shock wave of the impact had been enough to throw Nikolay's trajectory off; forcing Mina to lose her grip on him and Kyouka, as all three students came crashing and rolling down the street before finally coming to a stop. It was definitely a harder landing than they had hoped for, but it was quickly apparent that they were all still alive, and they had managed to get all their unconscious out of there in one piece with them, and in these current circumstances, that was all they had been hoping for, so there was an initial washing over of pure relief over all three students once they saw each other still standing, albeit still visibly beaten up something fierce and now covered in rubble dust.
"SOLOVEI-KUN! PINKY-KUN! JIROU-KUN! OVER HERE!" "OH, THANK GOD YOU'RE ALL OKAY!" "HOLY SHIT, YOU KIDS ARE AMAZING! WHOOOOO!"
The distant sound of an immensely relieved High Noon, Chiaroscuro and Blast Beat calling out to the students from a nearby alley snapped the trio to attention, once more smiling and nearly crying with relief at the sight of more of their mentors having managed to escape the chaos, even if it was immediately apparent that Chiaroscuro was considerably injured, while a smiling Leonid was likewise laying against the wall right beside her.
Regardless, the fact they'd all managed to escape what had seemed like an inescapable situation left Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka shaking with emotional relief, especially when Nikolay looked to their unconscious tag-alongs and finally uttered out loud: "Oh my God...we...we-
"WE WON! OH MY GOD, WE ACTUALLY WON! WE FOUGHT TOGETHER AND WON! WE'RE LIKE ACTUAL PRO HEROES, KOLYA-KUN, KYOUKA-CHAN! I'M SOOO HAPPY!" Mina's cheers echoed all around as she began jumping, twirling, flipping and pumping her fists as she laughed and cried all at once with the sheer weight of what they'd accomplished today; her pink yet dusty face already streaked with tears. Of course, Nikolay and Kyouka weren't much better, especially once Mina nearly bowled them both over, she'd thrown her arms around them so intensely in her celebration.
Amid the distant sirens of emergency vehicles filling the air, and the settling of rubble and waves of water in the canal, the three students were quickly joined by Blast Beat and High Noon, as they brought the still out-cold Anatoly and Hristofor with them, laying them side by side next to Eliška, Ilya and Maja; knowing the police would immediately want to take them into holding once they got here and learned all the details of what had happened here.
It wasn't much longer after that, when De-Condenser finally began to stir back to consciousness. With the exception of the bruise already forming on the left side of his jaw from where Nikolay had been forced to knock him out, the blue-haired Pro Hero didn't look any worse for wear. In fact, the moment he took in their surroundings, as well as the sight of his fellow Pros, all their interns, and finally his sidekick still in one piece; his rigid face formed a smile of the utmost pride as he looked upon the Yuuei trio.
"Damn, damn fine work, you lot. You've all more than proven your worth as future Pro Heroes today, I'll tell you that right now. I couldn't be prouder to call you our students. You've all earned this, Solovei-kun, Pinky-kun, Earphone Jack-kun."
to earn such genuine praise from one of their teachers in the wake of all this was a euphoric enough feeling as it was. But when Blast Beat, High Noon, Chiaroscuro and Leonid all began to express the very same sentiments one after the other; it genuinely was feeling like the fulfillment of a lifelong dream finally unfolding before all their eyes. What had once been the single most terrifying instance in all three of their young lives, had miraculously turned into one of the proudest days they would ever get to experience.
However, that was when the ground suddenly started to shake with quickly increasing intensity, with a multitude of different car alarms all starting to go off from a great distance away, but progressively getting closer. Soon, all eyes were drawn to where it sounded to be coming from: further up the canal. And soon enough, they could all see a massive towering white water shooting down the canal high enough to exceed nearly all the nearby rooftops. It was almost as though something were flying through the water at the speed of sound.
Neither the three Yuuei students nor their mentors knew what was coming, but they could just feel in the pits of their stomachs that it wasn't good, especially when the whitewater finally reached the blockage in the canal of the collapsed Kapenta building, leaving only a towering wall of water and mist hanging in the air for that one second, before the water itself began to start coalescing itself into a multitude of liquid tendrils, striking down like giant snakes at the ground before the Heroes, forcing Nikolay and his friends to immediately double back.
Before their eyes, the tendril of water in the center of this sudden barrier began to part, revealing the image of a towering figure in a heavily armored black bodysuit, all topped with a large nearly luminescent orange reflective dome over the wearer's head, giving no indication of just who the person inside it was. Immediately, Nikolay, Mina, Kyouka and their Pro mentors were all stricken with complete unfamiliarity with this sudden intruder, but could feel a deep intimidation by their presence all the same.
Nikolay had to clutch his fists and swallow a fearful lump in his throat as he couldn't take his eyes off this bizarre fusion of a deep-sea-diver and a cosmonaut, until the figure suddenly spoke with a deep and humorless voice through an electronic filter; looking upon all his unconscious comrades at the Heroes' feet, and of their unconscious target in The Giver: [[So…you three are the new Hero interns I've been hearing so much about; the ones who've been snooping for too long. You're clearly more troublesome than I'd been led to believe...but not for much longer.]]
The moment De-Condenser could feel the three interns were clearly being threatened by this total stranger, he immediately acted on it; absorbing all the density he could from the ground below, and launching himself to deliver a downward strike right on this new Villain.
However, the dome-headed assailant gave no visible sign that he was even looking in their newly recovered mentor's direction, yet one of the water tendrils emanating from the canal suddenly shot right for De-Condenser, only for the Hero to cross his arms and take the brunt head-on, managing to still land on his feet. His immediate taking of action ultimately drove his interns, Blast Beat and High Noon to likewise move in to try and take this new enemy out.
However, even with numerous new opponents coming his way, the man only known to the unconscious soldiers as Ocean Master, displayed incredible expertise over his Quirk; controlling all of the water not just from the canal, but even in the nearby hydrants and other water lines underneath the streets, to not only tear through their pipes, concrete and asphalt in order to give himself more means of control over the battlefield, but also to keep driving the intruders away, controlling the pressure and concentrations of the water flows themselves, to the point where he'd turned several water flows into veritable blades, whittling away at De-Condenser's reinforced muscles, and slicing through every projectile the rest of the incoming Heroes threw his way with their Quirks, all with complete control and ease.
No matter how many objects High Noon could throw through their shadows; no matter how intense a pulse Kyouka shot into the ground to kick rubble up and immediately shoot them through the air his way; no matter how many handfuls of acid Mina threw, and no matter how much Nikolay used his kinetics to kick up all the loose rubble he could as either protection or as an immediate set of projectiles; it made no difference.
In the end, none of them could launch an attack that could even get close to Ocean Master, and by the time this fact was all too clear to them; De-Condenser was already bleeding all over from the water-born lacerations now lining all over his body as he tried to power his way through.
In the middle of it all, Blast Beat even used a multitude of the bullet gadgets he swiped from his belt off Kyouka's shoulder, to produce a multitude of different effects; from a flash bang to thick smoke, and even liquid nitrogen to partially freeze some of the water so he could close the distance between himself and the new Villain.
Unfortunately, even this direct approach amid all the other attacks from the other Heroes wasn't nearly enough; as Ocean Master focused another huge spout of highly-pressurized water to explode out the ground directly beneath Blast Beat as he dove through the air. The rubble came flying up into him with such incredible force; the three interns and High Noon could all hear the Jukebox Hero's left shoulder, several ribs and his right leg, break with a deafening snapping sound.
Once De-Condenser was ultimately brought to his knees from the blood loss and muscle damage, and Blast Beat was left writhing in shock on the ground; the Heroes were suddenly spurred on by the sound of Chiaroscuro's voice from behind: "ERUMI-CHAN!"
Looking back, the remaining Heroes all felt their stomachs twist, as they were met with the sight of all their unconscious being wrangled up in mid-air water tendrils, forming through Ocean Master's Quirk from all of the vapor still hanging in the air all around them. Before their eyes, they watched the five assailants and De-Condenser's sidekick being pulled up through the air, over the high-pressure water wall to the other side, just at the same time the dome-headed Villain himself stepped back through with them, effectively cutting himself off from the Heroes.
Nikolay and Mina were now driven by frustration and desperation alike; seeing The Giver and Maja disappear behind the wall; with the Russian boy immediately launching himself up and over with a furious battle cry of ([[GIVE US BACK OUR FRIENDS NOW!]]), firing like mad from one hand and foot after another, sending himself into a midair roll while blasting away the concentrated water of every tendril that got close. He was acting as the spearhead so Mina could come rushing in right on his tail through the openings he was just barely able to make through the dome-headed Villain's defenses; spraying her acid from her hands and feet every which way she could in order to clear the way for both of them, and keep any water tendrils from blindsiding either of them.
In their mad blind rush, the two ultimately managed to find themselves with Ocean Master on his side of his liquid barrier, cutting themselves off in the end from Kyouka and the rest of the Heroes, but likewise ending up on his currently undefended side; his gaze watching the two young students thoughtfully from under his dome. [[Impatient.]]
In an instant, the droplets of water that had once been raining down began to fall at much harder strength and faster speed, before ultimately becoming like a devastating barrage, pelting down on Nikolay and Mina hard, before she finally managed to build up a momentary protective dome of acid over both of them, buying Nikolay just enough time to focus his aim and his Quirk, before finally firing upwards, causing her acid veil to explode upwards, forcing Ocean Master back a couple steps for once.
This reaction broke his downward rain attack, and thus the two students finally tried to charge him again, but when Nikolay leapt and tried to bring his one large tuning fork down on their opponent's head, the Villain immediately brought both hands up to grab onto it, stopping the boy's momentum, to Nikolay's shock, and not even looking remotely phased at the immediate release of all its stored kinetic energy into his arms. Even if he could only see his reflection in the dome, he could just feel that this Villain was looking him right in the eye, before just as swiftly nailing him right in the gut with a single kick, sending Nikolay bouncing back before barely managing to land on his feet despite the debilitating pain.
Taking advantage of that single moment he was focused on Nikolay, Mina tried to rush in with a slide to his back, her acid-coated fists at the ready. Unfortunately, though, Ocean Master had his defenses already set up, as the moment he'd finished backing Nikolay away, he focused his Quirk, and a large spout of concentrated water erupted from out of the rubble between them, knocking Mina off her feet and crashing just next to where he stood.
As she looked up at the Villain before her, Mina was trying so hard to convey her fighting spirit; but even as he saw the large blobs of acid over her hands as she stared up defiantly, trying to figure out how she could best fight back; the Villain saw much more inside. [[Fearful.]]
Melting a solid grip into the ground as she remained knelt there, Mina suddenly threw her body weight into an upward sweeping kick as though she were swinging herself into a back flip or a handstand, sending a spray of acid through her boots once more, forcing Ocean Master to reel in a line of water to take the blow, while she took that chance to repeatedly back flip as far away as she could, barely managing to dodge the tendril he sent her way.
All the while as this was happening, as they could only watch in their conditions from the other side of the liquid wall; High Noon, Leonid and Kyouka could start to hear the now much-closer sounds of emergency sirens, before the first of many police cars, fire trucks and ambulances began to race towards the scene. Unfortunately, Ocean Master could hear it too, but he, surprisingly, was as calm as could be. [[They won't be an issue for long.]]
With Nikolay and Mina both still standing before him and staring him down, the dome-headed man suddenly redirected the largest of his water tendrils backwards towards the oncoming emergency vehicles, catching the two Heroes by surprise, while Kyouka, High Noon, Leonid and De-Condenser were the ones to try and rush to intercept the attack despite their injuries; with De-Condenser applying more resistance power to an especially large slab of concrete he pried out from the rubble of the building despite his injuries, using it as a battering ram or shield against every tendril he could get in the way of, while Kyouka tried to use her jacks to send numerous pulses into the ground lined by the water wall, trying to burrow a way for her to get through and rejoin her classmates if she had to, and High Noon ended up having to use her remaining strength on her Shadow Split move to get into the middle of the road and stop as many of the oncoming vehicles from getting too close as she possibly could.
At the same time, desperate to try and stop his attack altogether; Nikolay and Mina once again began to rush Ocean Master, drifting outward from one another before Nikolay ultimately launched himself onto the side of one of the nearby buildings and propelled himself off of it, diving right for the Villain, while Mina was grinding along the only remaining guardrail on her feet, throwing as many handfuls of acid as she could to try and keep Ocean Master focused on her and grant Nikolay an opening.
Alas, Ocean Master's control over his Quirk was simply too powerful, as he kept blocking every one of her shots with another spout of water from the wall behind him, before ultimately enacting a geyser burst from the ground beside him, knocking Nikolay off his flying trajectory and straight up into the air, before ultimately doing the same to Mina as he caused the water in the canal to her right to burst yet again, washing her away upwards right alongside her best friend and Hero partner; all while Ocean Master simply looked up at the two airborne teens with a deeply disappointed sneer. [[Single-minded.]]
A distance away, High Noon had managed to get the police and first-response vehicles to stop and back away from the battlefield for their safety, while De-Condenser was still trying to fight his way through the continuous hydro-barrage with any cover he could grab and apply his Quirk to, fighting his way through his ever-increasing number of bleeding wounds, as the sheer power with which Ocean Master was directing the water to him from all directions was like the tiniest of razors stacked on top of each other. And all the while, his wall was maintaining itself no matter how much Kyouka tried to blast away at the ground, leaving her to realize she was going to have to get creative in order to get to the other side.
In that moment, Ocean Master was already feeling fed up with toying with the two interns that had been trying to fight him, ultimately redirecting all the water mist up in the air with them to hammer down on them hard, propelling them even faster back to the ground, before ultimately encasing them both in veritable water cocoons, leaving only their heads uncovered so they could still breathe and, most importantly, hear his words, as he began to approach menacingly.
[[You're both reckless, simply rushing headlong into battle without even so much as a backup plan! You fight by sheer impulse, having no sense of real strategy or how to use your Quirks effectively together! You try to fight on, no matter how much you know you're in over your heads, and yet you still cannot master your control over your emotions! You are both still fearful little children deep down! And even when clear and present danger presents itself towards the civilians caught in the middle, you still focus your intent and energy towards fighting, instead of trying to save them; only hoping that your allies can manage it for you! You are both single-minded. These three things are written all over your faces! You would make pathetic excuses for Heroes!]]
Mina had no idea just what the Villain who'd entrapped them was saying, but Nikolay could understand it easily, even through the distortion of his voice filter. He was actually taking this moment to scold them and belittle them like a master to a disobedient dog or infant. Had he not been so focused on trying to get them both out of this, despite the considerable water pressure the Villain was managing to weigh them down with, he would have felt deeply insulted.
"HEARTBEAT DISTORTION: GROUND-AND-POUND!"
The echoing sound of Kyouka's voice coming from overhead suddenly caught Nikolay and Mina's attention, and even that of Ocean Master; just in time to find the single girl falling from atop the nearby building still standing at the side of the road, her earphone jacks plugged into her stereo gloves just as she released a pulse through the speakers on the soles of her shoes, breaking her fall, and allowing her to finally follow through and drive her powered up hands straight into the ground in the Villain's direction, releasing a sonic boom of pure audible power that all but obliterated the ground before her; even managing to catch Ocean Master off balance as he was momentarily launched off the ground as it exploded from beneath.
"KYOUKA-SAN, YOU'RE AMAZING!" "SUPER AMAZING! YOU ROCK!" Nikolay and Mina simultaneously expressed their impressed thanks to their classmate for her last second save, as the break in Ocean Master's Quirk focus had allowed the Russian boy to finally release his kinetic buildup in the fibers of his costume from all around at once, causing the water cocoon holding him down to explode, while Mina likewise generated a huge buildup of acid over her arms and feet before finally spraying them all out at full force, burning away the water holding her, and allowing her to finally release what she immediately called a "ACID ENTRAPMENT PILEDOWN", as she fired a continuous stream between her hands of her quick-drying and entrapping non-corrosive acid where she saw Ocean Master land, pasting him down to the ground with everything she had, before finally stopping and hurriedly regrouping with her classmates.
The moment she was back at their side, Nikolay felt a great conviction in his chest as he finally answered their opponent proper: [[You might think we're pathetic…but we'll still keep fighting to protect everyone no matter what…even from the likes of you.]]
The reunited Yuuei trio stood defiantly together before Ocean Master, just psyching themselves up in preparation for the fight to somehow keep going,but Ocean Master didn't even give any indication of anger. If anything, his pitch-shifted voice only expressed contempt with the three young Heroes: [[You all shouldn't let yourselves get cocky the moment things start looking to go your way. Such arrogance is the ruin of Heroes. You brats don't even have me at a disadvantage.]]
At that moment, a number of different high-pressure spouts of water began to break through the fluid encasing over his body that Mina had hoped would be enough to keep him down. Within seconds, a whole deluge of water broke out through the entire thing, before finally dying out as the dome-headed Villain let several tendrils from the original water wall simply lift him back up until he was flat on his feet again, looking no worse for wear.
The three students could only observe that he seemed to have several small sluice openings throughout his suit that his escape water had just come from, before just as quickly being recalled right back in, as though it were all flowing upwards and inwards into him in a reversal of time itself.
[[Well? If you say you'll keep fighting for the sake of everyone, like real Heroes should…then what are you waiting for?]] This time, even with the language barrier, all three of the young Heroes could just feel the mockery present in that electronically pitch-shifted voice, with Ocean Master even spreading his arms wide, as though to literally invite them to bring what other fancy tricks they had.
Knowing they couldn't waste any more valuable time with defiant words, lest he tried to attack any civilians or law enforcement again, the three Yuuei students rushed in once more with their special moves at the ready.
Kyouka didn't even bother announcing her attempt as she quickly swung her earphone jacks hard towards each other, sending another immense pulse down at the moment of contact, resulting in another deafening feedback whine; but after having spotted what her Quirk was able to do before, Ocean Master wasn't about to take any more chances, as he immediately projected several high-pressure streams from out the openings in his suit's torso, forcing Kyouka to dodge out of the way and lose her focus, only for the nearby water wall to then open up and latch onto her with several more tendrils, pulling her inside and throwing her hard out the other side, once more cutting her off from her classmates; this time with the wall now extending as it tore through the building she'd originally used to get around; the sounds of numerous civilians inside crying out in panic spurring her to run in and try to help, reminding herself what her true responsibility as a Hero had to be, even now.
At the same time as he quickly removed Kyouka from the playing field, Mina similarly threw herself into another slide and fired multiple precise squirts of acid from her hands, continuously leaping side to side to avoid the water spouts he fired from his suit or lashed out at her from the walls with; following every landing and twirl with another shot from her fingertips. He was continuing to block them all the same, but if it was able to serve as an effective distraction, then that would be enough.
Especially since, once it was clear his attacks were being focused on her, Nikolay took that opportunity to launch himself up into another Resonating Wheel attack, propelling himself forward and charging up his Quirk into the soles of his feet, ready to deliver a stomp that would hopefully be enough to flatten Ocean Master into the ground and finally take him out of the fight.
Unfortunately, at that moment, Ocean Master sent all the collected water all over the ground between the walls towards Mina all at once, forcing her to throw up another all-encompassing Acid Veil around herself for protection, only for him to then utilize her distraction by practically ripping all the water lines out from the ground beneath her feet, throwing her off balance and blasting her backwards hard, making sure to send as much of it flying at the strongest force he could towards her, with some ultimately managing to even get through her Acid Veil before it could be dissolved, and cutting at her arms, legs, face and sides as a result.
With Mina effectively blown back enough, Ocean Master immediately followed up by sending all the remaining water in the air collectively towards Nikolay's falling body, and even as he tried to release his kinetics in his costume to repel it away, the sheer amount of it ultimately proved too much, as it all began to puncture, slash and utterly pound away at him.
Before Nikolay could even try and come up with another plan, the Villain himself came flying up by another underground spout beneath his feet through the mist, and grabbed the boy by the throat, flipping him up and over his head before ultimately throwing him straight into the ground, making him bounce before ultimately lying paralyzed with pain.
With his muscles screaming in agony from the punishment and constant toll of using his Quirk at full power, Nikolay tried to aim his last small tuning fork up towards the descending Villain, ultimately firing it at the same time as he channeled another kinetic burst through his feet and free hand into the ground, sending all the loose rubble around him straight up with it, effectively hiding his weapon in plain sight, just as more and more water began to circle and coil around his limbs, finally holding him down.
Ocean Master's focus was set solely on Nikolay at that moment that, for but a moment, he failed to notice the glint of the small metal item flying up towards him at the speed of a bullet, before he felt a precise impact hit him square in the chest, actually managing to puncture through the armor and genuinely hit.
This caused the water binding Nikolay, the five soldiers and The Giver to all suddenly collapse, leaving the Russian boy free to try and move again, while Ocean Master actually crashed to the ground before him on one knee; his filtered voice clearly gasping from the shock of having actually let his guard down for but that moment.
However, the pride of that moment didn't last long, as before Nikolay could try and launch himself backwards across the ground to buy himself some breathing room, the body language Ocean Master gave off instantly became much angrier and aggressive, culminating in him similarly launching himself up and forward just like the boy himself did before through the water; ultimately crashing down with improbable weight even for his size right on top of where Nikolay was still laid out.
Nikolay's first instinct was to try and send another shock wave into the ground to send as much rubble flying into that reflective domed face as possible, but Ocean Master made it clear he was done playing games, as he immediately planted a heavy boot right on the boy's left forearm, before planting the other firmly atop his chest, already constricting his ability to breathe in deep.
If Ocean Master wanted to, all he needed to do was apply just a bit more pressure, and he could have broken every one of Nikolay's ribs right then and there. Looking at the pain and desperation evident on the boy's defiant young face, it was already clear that Nikolay knew it, too. Yet, he continued to try and struggle against this imposing weight anyway.
As Nikolay tried desperately to reach for the handle of his one large tuning fork lying mere centimeters from his right hand, he could similarly see his own frightened expression reflected in that luminescent orange dome. The fact he couldn't even see the face of whoever was underneath almost felt like this entire situation was one gross mockery of all his pain and efforts leading only to this.
A momentary glance to Nikolay's outstretched right arm revealed what the boy was trying to do, and thus Ocean Master didn't even give a physical kneejerk reaction, instead automatically sending several split second razor-like spurts of water freefalling down from all the mist around them, slicing through the sleeves and skin of Nikolay's hands, arms, sides, legs and feet in no time at all.
Nikolay could already feel his blood start to run and soak through the remaining sleeve and pant leg of his costume, but his adrenaline was still somehow managing to block out enough of the pain so he wouldn't give this Villain the satisfaction of hearing him scream.
Ocean Master could tell this from the look in his green eyes. As frustrated as he was at having had to deal with these children for this long, he still couldn't help but be surprised at their persistence, especially that of the young boy before him; even as he began to collect all the water vapor in the air over his head into a shape resembling a guillotine's blade. [[You can't possibly fight your way out of this. Why bother continuing to struggle? The time of real Heroes in this world is long since come and gone. The best you can do for yourself is just lay down and take what's coming to you with some grace, boy.]]
The crushing weight on Nikolay's chest made it exceptionally difficult to form words, instead continuing to stare up at this villain, and the overall reality of his situation; the light of the sun glistening off all the water in the air just right to where it formed a sparkling wall of pure light behind Ocean Master's back. Had it not been for the fact that he was mere centimeters from reaching, and seconds away from either fighting his way out or dying respectively; he would've considered such an image in the air to be truly beautiful.
However, such beauty was suddenly interrupted by the faintest momentary dimming in one concentrated spot of the air behind Ocean Master's back, but before Nikolay could even mentally pause to wonder what it was, realization hit him like the perfect right hook to the face, as he immediately recognized Mina; her black-gold eyes wide and filled with a driven rage as she came free falling from a high front-flipping leap, having used the skyward current of the water wall to actually propel and lift herself high up enough to where she could gain the element of surprise upon leaping off.
The moment he could see both her arms and legs were completely coated in thick, bubbling sleeves of acid; her voice came echoing down with more anger than he had ever thought it possible for her to express: "YOU GET AWAY FROM KOLYA-KUN, DAMMIT!"
Nikolay's eyes were so focused on Mina as she came down, he never noticed the slightest flinch of surprise that overtook Ocean Master's body, just before his fighting reflexes kicked right in and he immediately turned at the waist and threw a precise right arm forward, expertly clutching Mina tight by her neck, stopping her momentum in an instant…
…only for the pink young female Hero to instantly follow up by throwing both her acid-covered arms forward in a pincer-like punch, sending both corrosive payloads directly onto his dome helmet, for once finally catching the Villain completely by surprise as his filtered voice let out an enraged and shocked shout from within.
Not releasing his right hand's grip on her throat, Ocean Master hurriedly tried to grab for a button lining the rim of his already-melting helmet, his fingers barely managing to find and push it in time; resulting in the dome ejecting off his shoulders with a powerful industrial hiss, as all the air inside of it immediately burst out, removing the electronic filter, and finally allowing the Villain's real pained gravelly voice to be heard by the two students' ears, as he hyperventilated in desperation and anger. All of the water walls, spouts and tendrils instantaneously collapsed all at once now that his concrete focus over his Quirk had been broken at last.
Nikolay could finally feel the handle of his last tuning fork make it into his right palm, now that Ocean Master was so thoroughly distracted. If he could get the right angle and launch it from his hand straight into his face, he could end this fight and save himself and Mina both right here. The moment he was about to, the still panting Ocean Master finally lifted his head and hunched his body over; his blood boiling over with rage as he wanted Nikolay to see the sheer bloodlust in his eyes.
Nikolay, from his position, wasn't able to avoid the Villain's gaze, but he was still more than ready to deliver a hit like this man wouldn't believe…until Ocean Master's leaning head managed to block out enough of the atmospheric light of the falling water droplets in the air so that he could actually see his face in full detail.
Kneeling over Nikolay was a man who clearly had to be well into his middle ages, but it was hard to tell, because so much of his face was warped with very ugly third-degree burn scars, as though Ocean Master had, at one point, literally been set on fire. There were only a few tiny tufts of wispy, fire-bleached hair with only the slightest hints of icy blue visible when illuminated by the light, and half of his mouth looked to have had its lips burned away, as a nearly skeletal grin overtook half his jaw, with the corresponding ear being almost non-existent. Barely visible within the collar of his suit was what looked like some kind of water-filled breathing apparatus around his neck, upon which he could barely make out what looked like gills.
However, the one detail that brought all of Nikolay's adrenaline and anger to an immediate stop, was Ocean Master's eyes. While the whites were a permanent inflamed-looking shade of red, the irises were an almost hypnotic shade of oceanic blue, with the pupils being a warm sunflower color. They completely contradicted all of the more aggressive details of his face, and that was because Nikolay could immediately feel an unquestionable sense of remembrance when seeing them, deep in the pit of the very chest the Villain's foot was still perched on.
He had seen these eyes before, and he could never have mistaken them for anyone else's, and that mental and emotional connection of pure nostalgia formed the words of almost muted disbelief that immediately came out of Nikolay's throat when looking into the man's eyes: [[Uncle…Volga?]]
The instant those words came out and reached the deformed ears of the man above him; his once wrenched and furious face immediately lost all trace of killing intent, now only stricken with the kind of disbelief that one could only see in order to truly believe. It was as though he'd forgotten what it was to actually be called by that name, as he instinctively reeled his head back in shock, too shaken to know to actually take his boot off the boy's chest, or release his hold on Mina's neck.
It was as though he was still trying to mentally process what he'd just heard the boy call him; but most importantly, he was now taking that chance to really look and observe the details of Nikolay's face. There was a part that didn't recognize him at all, but the more he looked at the head of dark brown hair that contrasted so sharply against his incredibly fair-colored skin, his naturally delicate-looking face, and especially into those deep and shimmering emerald eyes, he became stricken with a bolt of remembrance he simply needed to know was real for himself, especially after now seeing the boy's face with his own eyes, and having heard the girl in his hand refer to him as what he'd thought she had: [[Kolya? B-Bezpalov? N-Nikolay...Bezpalov? You…y-y-you're alive? N-no, no, this…t-this can't be. This can't be possible, you can't be real!]]
Neither the man Nikolay miraculously recognized as Volga, nor Nikolay himself, could feel it within themselves to try and fight, still too utterly dumbfounded with shock to even think of it. Even Mina was momentarily stricken by just how instantaneously all the aggression between their enemy and her dearest friend had vanished once they'd looked into each other's eyes.
However, Mina could feel all her own protectiveness and adrenaline come rushing right back the more she heard the man's voice become angrier and more desperate, with his body language becoming more rigid and aggressive. In her state, all she could think upon seeing that, was that he was getting ready to finish her partner off, and as such, even with the grip he had on her neck, the pink young Hero exclaimed: "I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM!"
PSSSSHT!
With lightning quick reflexes, precise aim and her heart racing with her desire to protect them both, Mina brought both her once-more acid-coated arms straight down on the elbow joint of the now-unmasked Villain's arm holding her up, and at the same time drove her acid-enveloped right foot straight into the left kneecap of the leg pinning Nikolay down.
Within seconds, her acid worked its magic, as both limbs disconnected from the rest of Ocean Master/Volga's body, causing him to lose his hold on Mina, and for Nikolay to finally find the wherewithal to launch himself back from underneath, hurriedly rolling back onto his feet, but still showing no sign of aggression. If anything, his eyes looked like he wanted to actually try to reach out and talk down this face from a whole other life.
However, the moment he saw a multitude of wires and machinery within the smoking stumps of his now disconnected limbs, Nikolay was stricken stiff with morbid shock, while the man before him; his face began to once more twist with shell shock and fury all at once; driving his Quirk into full power as the canal and busted water lines all over the obliterated road erupted high into the sky once again, with several tendrils of water latching onto his stumps and propping him back upright.
The moment his eyes drifted towards Mina mere feet to Nikolay's left, the young Slavic Hero instinctively dashed for her, only for wisps of water faster than anything the two had faced before, to come whipping out from the vapor once more in the air and ensnare Nikolay by his limbs, and doing the same to Mina at the very same time, but actually reeling her up closer to their opponent this time, while Nikolay was kept a fair distance away.
As Mina kept trying to struggle against her bonds; the water current and pressure around her replacing itself faster than her attempts to build up more acid could break through; the frightening and visibly furious Villain before her latched onto her face with his one remaining hand, forcing her wide and terrified eyes to look right into his. Whatever had been in them that had diffused Nikolay's fighting spirit mere seconds before was now nowhere to be seen, as his disfigured mouth twisted into a hateful sneer, and through his focus, he began to coalesce more water around him to form into a long and pointed spear shape, aiming right between the pink girl's eyes.
Mina's heart was hammering with unparalleled terror at the realization of what was about to happen to her; but she still didn't let that stop her from trying to burn her way out of her restraints.
At the same time, the moment Nikolay saw what the man he once knew as Volga was about to do to the single most important person in his life at this very moment; all his emotional desperation to reconnect, his fighting spirit, his fear, anger and nostalgia all went away, now replaced only with a fury that burned through his veins like the sun itself, his eyes going completely blind with only his desire to save Mina fueling every cell in his body, before it all culminated in Nikolay opening his mouth and releasing a bellowing siren's screech of [[NOOOOOOOO!]] that ended up shattering every window within 150 meters around them, dispersed all of the water around them into a mist in a perfect spherical shock wave, releasing Mina from her restraints, and nearly sent Volga or Ocean Master and all the unconscious crashing right into the guardrails lining the canal.
The sheer power and physical toll of this desperate Siren's Shout firing had left Nikolay prone and drained upon the ground, his ears having long since lost their protective buds, and were thus bleeding once more. Yet despite this, he was still visibly trying to force himself back onto his feet; his green eyes still burning with the kind of driven fire that filled the rising Volga with a sense of amazement and remembrance the likes of which he'd never expected to feel again.
It was almost as though the Nikolay Bezpalov before him right now wasn't even the teenage version of the little infant he'd once known. It was as though he'd turned into a completely different person through the intensity in his eyes alone…as though he'd transformed, even if just for that moment, into the perfect mirror image of his father, Tunguska's intended heir as a true, unshakable Hero from all those years ago.
Just this mental association on top of the years of repressed memories all hitting Volga at once, left him burning with too many emotions to even name; instead letting out an anguished and enraged howl, before the waters of the canal once more erupted behind him, this time completely engulfing himself, before multiple similar tentacle-like waves suddenly burst out from further away, ensnaring and pulling Eliška, Hristofor, Anatoly and The Giver in with him; in a blind rage-induced Quirk activation.
Within seconds, that very same whitewater wave that had previously come rushing all this way to herald his arrival, was now rushing even faster the opposite way, signifying most of the Villains' escape; with Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka's Pro Hero friend and mentor officially taken with them, and all of the present Heroes simultaneously realizing that, while they may have technically fought the Villains back and kept them from hurting civilians in the process, they themselves were all still too badly hurt to give chase, even if they had a pretty good idea as to just where their enemies were fleeing to.
This only made their shared anguish at their ultimate failure that much worse, with Nikolay and Mina both breaking down into tears in the wake of it all, even as she hurried over to her precious partner's side once she could finally get back on her feet, and Nikolay could only lie flat on the ground, repeatedly pounding a frustrated fist against it over and over again, feeling as though he were drowning in so many different feelings he hadn't thought to experience ever again all at the same time.
Nikolay's state of shock was so deep, that at first he didn't even register in his head how Mina, even through her own tears, sobs and fear-driven hiccups, had taken him into a tight and warm embrace of incomparable relief, only somehow managing to find the words through her sobbing, as the authorities and Kyouka all finally began to approach the two, and from there cordon off the entire area.
"Kolya-kun…oh my God, Kolya-kun, I was so scared! I was so scared! Oh, thank God you're okay!" Mina choked out through her tears, unable to get them to stop running down her face as she refused to let the boy go, relishing in just how much more reassuring it felt for her when Nikolay finally found the wherewithal through his own outpouring of emotions to bring his arms around her in return, his still-hurting hands clutching onto her tight.
"Mina…I…I…oh God, Mina, I'm so sorry; I couldn't do anything to-!"
Nikolay couldn't even finish starting to apologize for having allowed her to end up in a situation like she had been, before Mina simply brought her hands up to his head and let him rest his face against her shoulder, trying her best through her own tears to whisper reassuring shushes into his ear as they both continued to let all their feelings out onto one another, holding each other tight and never wanting to let go even for an instant.
All the while, Kyouka's own physical pain and exhaustion had brought her to her knees right alongside her two classmates; both of them immediately showering her with their own frantic expressions of gratitude and relief for her looking to be relatively okay, and pulling her into their embrace as well. In the end, even the usually stoic rocker girl couldn't keep all her shakiness and fear to herself, ultimately breaking into tears of pure relief now that the fight seemed to finally be over.
After a couple minutes of this, and it seemed that they were finally able to speak without breaking down into further sobs, Kyouka was finally able to ask the one thing that clung to the forefront of her mind: "Kolya-san…that man with that Water Quirk…when Mina-chan melted his helmet, I saw you both go completely slack. Neither of you looked like you were gonna keep fighting…why was that?"
Mina's still-watery eyes once more widened with remembrance, now that her mind wasn't being driven by pure adrenaline anymore: "Hey, yeah! You actually talked to him real softly…and he even did the same. It was almost like…like you two actually knew each other."
Nikolay's anguished green eyes momentarily drifted back to the far end of the canal, his breath hitching in his already pained throat before finally saying the one answer there was anymore: "That's…that's because I do know him, Mina, Kyouka-san. That man…I thought he'd been dead for so long…but he…I couldn't mistake those eyes of his for anyone else."
When the boy finally looked both his friends in the eyes, they could likewise feel the anxious breath leave their lungs when they saw just how deep Nikolay's most distant memories and emotions were reflecting in his eyes as the morning sun reflected off them just right: "I still don't know how it's possible, but…that man was one of my Dad's old partners from back in The New Bogatyrs…The River Hero, Volga."
Simply the connection between their overly powerful assailant and their beloved Quirk History teacher left both girls visibly speechless, with that unsettling reality of a former Pro Hero now being on their enemies' side leaving all three of them with that frigid sensation of fear and despair in the pits of their stomachs.
Over the next several minutes, everything seemed to just pass like a blur for the three students. Even as the authorities went to every one of them and the Pro Heroes for details on what exactly had happened, and in Leonid's case, why it happened; to the confirmation that they still had the unconscious Maja and Ilya to work with when they would awaken, and finally the decision to take the Heroes and Leonid all to the nearest hospital; all Nikolay could think of was just how unreal it felt, knowing now with his own eyes just who it was he and Mina had almost gotten killed by, fighting for the very same man that had now taken one of their own; someone he and Tunguska had both believed without a shred of doubt for years to be dead. It was almost as though everything he thought he'd known had been turned right on its head.
As they'd all started to get processed into the hospital upon their arrival, of course many of the police officers stationed there were abuzz with speculation and curiosity as to just why this incident had happened, and what they were going to do about it now that the Hokkaido Hero Network tower all the way in Asahikawa City had been taken down.
"WHAT?!" Nikolay and his classmates immediately asked this on pure reflex once they had heard these details amid all the background noise. Even despite having never heard of such a thing as a Hero Network, or a tower for it before, there was no doubting it had to be very important for all the Pro Heroes all over the place; and at the worst possible time, it was actually destroyed.
However, while these particular cops were momentarily caught off guard by the Hero interns' collective reactions; a noticeably older policeman took that chance to step forward. "I'm afraid it's true, kids. There were reports of a similar coordinated attack by some other unknown Villains over in Asahikawa City, shortly before the attack on your Agency, actually. It looks like their target was the central tower for the Hero Network here in Hokkaido. The Hero Agencies here can't communicate with each other nearly as quickly, and we can't get in contact through the network to Hero Agencies on the mainland or other islands, either. I'm afraid right now; we're dead in the water as far as communication goes."
The three students all looked visibly crestfallen and worried sick upon hearing this, knowing just who of their schoolmates were supposed to be stationed in Asahikawa City. However, before any of them could immediately follow up by trying to contact Momo on their phones, Kyouka's head suddenly perked up: "Wait; I know it would still take longer, but couldn't someone still be able to take the train through the sea tunnel and alert all the mainland Agencies that way?"
Like magic, Kyouka's suggestion left Nikolay and Mina visibly brightened up with hope as the pink girl instantly exclaimed: "Yeah, good thinking, Kyouka-chan! We could come back with a whole ton of Pro Heroes to help! Those Villains wouldn't stand a chance, then; no matter how strong they are!"
A regretful clearing of the throat from the same police officer rendered the youthful trio silent, and once they saw the particular look in his eyes, they could already tell they weren't going to like what he had to say.
"I'm afraid that's not going to be so simple this time, either. Around the same time as the attack on your Agency and the tower in Asahikawa, there were also reports of a train hijacking that resulted in the flooding of the Sapporo Undersea Line. I'm sorry to have to tell you all like this, but right now, Hokkaido is completely cut off from all forms of getting Hero backup any time fast."
That overall fact was bad enough for anyone listening in; but for Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka; now theorizing this was why they hadn't run into the rest of Pietro's known soldiers during the Kapenta attack; right now the only thing any of them could think of, was just what had possibly happened to their friends and Class B fellows, while they themselves had barely managed to fight for their lives on their own internship stomping grounds.
As they all stood in shock in the middle of that bustling hospital with their hands momentarily hanging over their pockets and their phones; the answers to their concerns a mere push of a button away; all three young Heroes could only silently look to one another and pray that their two class representatives and friends, and their Class B compatriots were all somehow still okay in the midst of this Hokkaido-encompassing chaos.
And there it is, everyone: a plot twist I'd been planning on since I first started writing this whole story over a year ago! With the Kapenta Hero Agency destroyed and our Heroes (and evidently their friends throughout Hokkaido as well) having been attacked, what will they be able to do to put a stop to the increasingly unhinged and increasingly powerful Pietro and his army, especially now that The Giver has been taken away?
I really, REALLY hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please be kind and leave an honest review telling me what you think of this arc or the story as a whole so far, I've really been trying my hardest with this whole thing, but this original arc in particular, and feedback would be so appreciated.
I hope you all have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 04/30!